Protestors demanding autonomy for eastern Libya storm Benghazi election office

Benghazi, July 2 (ANI): Protesters calling for greater autonomy for eastern Libya have reportedly stormed the offices of electoral authority in Benghazi.

According to Benghazi head of the High National Election Commission, Jamal Bukrin, hundreds of protestors chanting pro-autonomy slogans took ballot boxes out of the building and burnt election papers on the street.

"A group of people entered the commission's premises, ransacked the offices and destroyed what they found inside the building," the BBC quoted Bukrin, as saying.

Libya is to elect a new parliament on Saturday, in the first democratic polls since the ousting of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Pro-autonomy leaders in eastern Libya have called for a boycott of the vote.

They want eastern Libya to be given a larger share of seats in the new 200-member legislature, which is tasked with drawing up a constitution.

Libya's electoral law apportions 60 seats to eastern Libya and 102 to the west, with 38 going to the rest of the country. (ANI)