Analysis

Libya: Election Succeeds but Tribal Society Still Dominates
Libya’s transitional leaders attend the announcement of the Libyan General Assembly election results on July 17, 2012 at the Rexos Hotel in Tripoli. (MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/GettyImages)
July 20, 2012
| Security
| Middle East and North Africa
Summary
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In Libya’s first election in more than 40 years, voters elected a large number of unaffiliated candidates to the body charged with writing the constitution and forming a transitional government, denying both the Muslim Brotherhood and Liberals a majority say in this process. All sides are now attempting to form alliances to influence the constitution-writing and position themselves for national elections next year. While the elections were a victory for democracy, the disparate candidates and their unique agendas will complicate decision-making in the new government.
Unaffiliated candidates, who hold the largest number of seats in the newly created General National Assembly, are working to form a coalition to counter both the Muslim Brotherhood and the National Forces Alliance of former Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril. “We are trying to create a third way,” said Saleh Gawoda, a prominent political activist and writer who won a seat in the assembly. The independent candidates, he said, are attempting to join together to form a nationalist bloc. Their goal is to create a unified coalition to limit animosity and power struggles in the assembly to move Libya toward full democracy.

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