TRIPOLI, Libya — Calls for a boycott and other unrest on the eve of Libya's first vote since the overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi raised fears of election violence, even as campaigning came to an end Friday for a contest seen as a milestone on the country's rocky path toward democracy.

The Saturday election of a 200-member transitional parliament caps a messy nine-month transition after a ruinous 2011 civil war that ended in October with the death of Gadhafi, whose four-decade rule left the country deeply divided along regional, tribal and ideological lines.

The parliament will elect a new transitional government to replace the one appointed by the National Transitional Council that led the rebel side during the eight-month war and held power in its aftermath.