# Libya: First post-Revolution national election July 7, 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 5, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-first-post-revolution-national-election-july-7-2012/627265 "2012-07-05T03:36:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-first-post-revolution-national-election-july-7-2012/627265/1 "2012-07-05T03:36:46Z")
[This is only a preliminary election](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Public_National_Conference_election,_2012) to a “Public National Conference” that will appoint a provisional Prime Minister and Cabinet. It will also appoint a “Constituent Authority,” which in turn will draw up a new constitution. If the constitution is approved in a referendum, there will be a general election six months later. Which doesn’t mean this election won’t be a hot business – already has been, in terms of setting the rules. > [@](#): > > A draft election law was published on 1 January 2012; public comments on the proposed law are currently accepted. According to the draft, 200 MPs will be elected, with members of the NTC, Gaddafi regime members and family members of Gaddafi barred from running; at least 10% of the MPs will be women, unless fewer female candidates run.[4] > > The second draft abolished the women’s quota and allowed local NTC council members to run in the election; it also changed the electoral system from countrywide to constituency-based.[5] Following further protests against restrictions for dual nationals and other issues, the release of the electoral law was again postponed to 28 January 2012.[6] The NTC also sought the input of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace, who had proposed an alternative electoral law and criticized the official draft on four key points relating to dual nationals, lack of a women’s quota, inadequate countermeasures against corruption and the risk of incentivizing tribal party formation.[7][third-party source needed] > > A new electoral law was finally drafted on 28/29 January 2012. The election system will be a form of parallel voting, with 64 constituency seats (with independent candidates only) and 136 list seats for party lists. Lists will have to alternate between male and female candidates, in effect ensuring a women’s quota. The age required to stand for election was lowered to 21 years, and citizens with dual nationality will be allowed to vote and run in the election.[8][9] Further changes were later made, changing the ratio to 120 constituency seats and 80 list seats (reportedly in an attempt to reduce the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in the new parliament).[10] Parties in play include the [Democratic Party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(Libya)) (liberal, secularist); the [Justice and Development Party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_and_Development_Party_(Libya)) (Muslim Brotherhood); and the [National Front Party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_Party_(Libya)) (secular, liberal, progressive; linked to the old anti-Gaddafi expatriate organization, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya); plus several smaller parties, including Communists, Social Democrats, and several Islamist parties more radical than the JDP/MB. Apart from potential Islamist influence, the big issue is whether the new Libya is to be a unitary or a federal state. Libya is made up of three traditional regions – [Tripolitania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripolitania) in the northwest (centered on the capital, Tripoli); [Cyrenaica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrenaica) in the east (centered on Benghazi, where the anti-Gaddafi Revolution began); and [Fezzan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fezzan) in the southwest (centered on nothing in particular, but the biggest town is Sabha). [A faction in Cyrenaica](http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012/07/20127213476184851.html) wants a loosely federal Libya with regional autonomy. This appears to be in reaction to Gaddafi’s longstanding policy of milking the oil revenues of the east to benefit Tripoli, while neglecting development elsewhere. But even in Cyrenaica, this idea is controversial. > [@](#): > > In protest against the power of Tripoli, Hussein El Awami, a 26-year-old Benghazi University graduate, co-created the Cyrenaica Transitional Council, which in March of this year announced the self-proclaimed independence of the eastern state of Cyrenaica. > > “The western side of the country is in denial over who we are. We as Libyans are not one people. If you dig into our history you will find that we are merely a nation that consists of three different kinds of people from three totally different cultures, namely from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan,” El Awami said. > > El Awami’s argument is supported by Libya scholar Ronald Bruce St John, who explains in his studies that the historical three-way geographic split of the country - each part separated by formidable land and sea barriers - has never made it obvious that modern-day Libya would, or should, form a political unity. > > In his book Libya - From Colony to Revolution, St John writes: "Historically, Cyrenaica tended to look eastward toward the Mashriq or eastern Islamic world, while Tripolitania looked westward toward the Maghrib or western Islamic world. > > “With southern Libya extending well into the Sahara Desert and sharing selected socioeconomic features with neighbouring African states, Fezzan naturally looked south to central and western Africa.” > > Gaddafi’s predecessor, King Idris Sanussi of Libya, was originally only the ruler of Cyrenaica - but was invited by the British to also become the emir of the other Libyan regions, because of his support for the Allies during World War II > > \ > > Indeed, the call for federalism has set off alarm bells in Tripoli, with NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil warning that the interim government would use force to preserve national unity. > > Tripoli rejects the idea of federalism with the argument that the partition of Libya could have far-reaching and highly negative consequences, possibly even armed conflict among the three geographical regions. > > “Fear-mongering,” replied El Awami, adding that the country’s interim leaders do not want federalism because they fear that more power will end up in the hands of tribal leaders instead of political parties. > > \*\*Decentralisation versus federalism \*\* > > Faraj Abdel Aziz Najem, doctor of sociology and an independent candidate for the elections in the Benghazi constituency, said the federalists in the east were only a “vocal minority”. > > Like many candidates from Benghazi, Najem is a strong proponent of decentralisation of Tripoli’s power, but rejects the idea of splitting the region from the rest of Libya. > > Benghazi is what he called “the political compass of Libya”, explaining that his country would only be peaceful if his city were given a fair chance economically. This election will not determine whether Libya will hold together or fly apart, but it might provide the earliest warning signs. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-first-post-revolution-national-election-july-7-2012/627265/2 "2012-07-05T17:59:24Z")
[And hotter still.](http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/07/201275103748691747.html) > [@](#): > > On Thursday, a fire ravaged a depot containing electoral material in the eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya, an official of the national electoral commission said on Thursday. > > “The fire happened before sunrise. All the material, including ballot boxes and ballots, was destroyed,” said the official, adding that the cause of the fire was unknown. > > But he said backers of federalism, some of them armed, “had tried to attack the depot [on Wednesday] and residents of the city parried the attack by forming a human shield around the warehouse”. > > The head of the electoral commission in Benghazi, Jamal Bugrin, confirmed the information, warning that “if a solution is not found today [Thursday] to replace the material, voting would have to be delayed in that district”. > > While the election is designed to produce a government with a stronger mandate to rule than the current ex-rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), the credibility of the result will be questionable if voters are too scared to turn out or if post-vote disputes degenerate into gun battles among rival factions. > > In some areas, such as the isolated southern district of Kufra in the Saharan desert, tribal clashes are so fierce that election observers will be unable to visit, and some question whether the vote can proceed in certain areas there. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-first-post-revolution-national-election-july-7-2012/627265/3 "2012-07-09T23:28:24Z")
[Jibril’s liberal coalition, the National Forces Alliance, is claiming an early lead.](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/201278103015263203.html)