Libya experiments with democracy amid echo of gunshots

By Anne-Beatrice Clasmann Jan 31, 2012, 2:06 GMT

Tripoli - One of Moamer Gaddafi's favourite sayings was, 'Whoever starts a political party is a traitor.' Five months after the dictator's fall, that attitude still persists in Libyan politics.

Even though Libyans aim to free themselves from the old ways of thinking, they find that the ideological constraints of the past still have an affect.

About 120 political parties have been formed across the country in the run-up to the first parliamentary elections, for which a date has yet to be set.

Only about 20 of these new organizations can count on a national support base, and there is a great deal of scepticism regarding them.

'Who are the people representing these new parties, and what do they want? They are probably only concerned with their own personal interests,' said a civil servant attending a protest rally against the policies of the ruling National Transitional Council.

'We don't want ideology. We just want state services,' he added.

Mustafa al-Jibani, 50, will not allow himself to be discouraged by such remarks. The former dissident and businessman in the tourism sector has formed a party together with relatives, friends and like-minded people, calling it the Libyan Democratic Association.

The party has secured a permit from the Cultural Ministry and reserved its name. Al-Jibani, who is both party founder and chairman, has no idea which government authority will finally issue him a formal licence for a party he claims has an estimated 1,000 members in several cities.

Al-Jibani spent about half his life in France, where he studied law. One of his associates is Fathi Ajad, the retired director of the Institute for National Security that was shut down in 2009.

The two men have drawn up a programme for the new party. One of its cornerstones is that Islam will be the 'main fount of legislation.'

Nevertheless, the two - both with an academic background - say they do not intend Libya to become a theocracy in the style of Saudi Arabia.

They also do not expect an election result such as the one in neighbouring Egypt, where about a quarter of the votes went to Islamists.

In contrast to Egypt, where there is a lot of uncertainty about the nature of the future political system, the roadmap for Libya's transition to full democracy has been drawn up in detail.

The country goes to the polls for the first time on June 23 to elect 200 members of a National Conference that will be tasked with forming a new government and drawing up a new constitution within 180 days.

A referendum on that constitution will then follow, in which at least two-thirds of the electorate must back the document. Once this process has been concluded, a new electoral law will be passed, laying the groundwork for the first parliamentary elections.

Issues that have given rise to discussion and conflict in recent weeks will probably then re-emerge. They include questions such as, whether Libya needs a female quota.

A women's quota of 10 per cent contained in an initial draft of the law to regulate the June election for the National Conference was met with considerable resistance in certain quarters.

Another contentious question is whether Libyans holding dual nationality may vote in the elections. Many members of the transitional government have returned from exile and hold a second nationality, but the restriction being discussed has little to do with them.

It has more to do with a widespread concern that nationals of other African countries who received Libyan citizenship from Gaddafi in return for their loyalty could play a disruptive role in the country's politics.

Libyan democracy is in its infancy, and the transitional government headed by Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Keib is still trying to cope with many basic difficulties: Gun battles between former revolutionaries, treatment of the war wounded, combating organized crime and people taking the law into their own hands.

While there is little gunfire to be heard on the streets of Tripoli during daylight, after nightfall shots echo in the streets. They are sometimes fired by supporters of the deposed regime, who want to vent their anger.

More often, however, the gunmen are youth firing their weapons for the sheer pleasure of it. Stray bullets cause deaths or injuries almost daily, the city's hospitals report.