Thursday, July 19, 2012

Libya Votes Non-Islamist

Early signs were that this would be the case:
"The early results of Libya's parliamentary election show a liberal party in first place in the country's first free vote since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
"The election commission on Tuesday said the National Forces Alliance (NFA), led by Mahmoud Jibril, the former interim prime minister, secured 39 of the 80 open seats. Those projections also meant the NFA won only 20 per cent of seats in the 200-seat assembly.
"The Justice and Construction party, launched by Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, came in second with 17 seats...
"The complete tally, however, does not paint a clear picture about who will dominate the incoming congress, where the majority of seats, 120 of 200, were reserved for individual candidates."
The non-partisan candidates obviously hold the key to the parliament as a whole, but I suspect they are mainly the product of tribal voting, both urban and rural, and as such will be most interested in economic and development policies.  As for the NFA's showing over the Muslim Brotherhood, it doesn't mean that Libyans are more secular than Egyptians or Tunisians, but rather that people are turning to long-standing, well-organized opposition movements to manage their transitions.

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