TRIPOLI   -   Libya is set to hold rare municipal elections on Saturday, in a ballot seen as a test of democracy in a nation still plagued by division and instability. Key eastern cities -- including Benghazi, Sirte and Tobruk -- have rejected the vote, highlighting the deep rifts between rival administrations. The UN mission in Libya, UNSMIL, called the elections “essential to uphold democratic governance” while warning that recent attacks on electoral offices and ongoing insecurity could undermine the process. “Libyans need to vote and to have the freedom to choose without fear and without being pressured by anyone,” said Esraa Abdelmonem, a 36-year-old mother of three. “These elections would allow people to have their say in their day-to-day affairs,” she said, adding that it was “interesting to see” how the areas affected by the clashes in May would vote. Since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi, Libya has remained split between Tripoli’s UN-recognised government, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah and its eastern rival administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Khaled al-Montasser, a Tripoli-based international relations professor, called the vote “decisive”, framing it as a test for whether Libya’s factions are ready to accept representatives chosen at the ballot box. “The elections make it possible to judge whether the eastern and western authorities are truly ready to accept the idea that local representatives are appointed by the vote rather than imposed by intimidation or arms,” he said. Nearly 380,000 Libyans, mostly from western municipalities, are expected to vote.