Transition in Tripoli

TRIPOLI -- Libya's first nationwide elections in nearly five decades brought hints of an Arab Spring precedent: Western-leaning parties making strides over Islamist rivals hoping to follow the same paths to power as neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.

While final results from Saturday's parliamentary election could still be days away, unofficial and partial counts from Libya's biggest cities suggested liberal factions were leading the Muslim Brotherhood in a possible setback to their political surge following last year's uprisings.

If the Libyan trend holds, it would challenge the narrative of rising Islamist power since the fall of Western-allied regimes from Tunis to Cairo. It could also display the different political dynamics in Libya, where tribal loyalties run deep and groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood at times co-operated with the rule of Moammar Gadhafi.

"Anyone with past ties with the old regime is hated, even despised," said Fathi al-Fadhali, a pro-Islamist Libyan political analyst who lived in exile for 30 years. "Any political names associated with the regime are immediately politically burnt by that association."

Ultimately, the 200-seat parliament will face the task of forming a government -- which could become tests of strength for Islamists and secular forces over questions such as women's rights, the extent of traditional Islamic law and relations with the U.S. and other Western nations that helped bring down Gadhafi.

U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Libyans on the vote, calling it "another milestone on their extraordinary transition to democracy." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the people of Libya and the candidates who "contested the election in a peaceful, democratic spirit," according to his spokesman.

Now, the ballots have to be portioned out according to two categories: Eighty seats are set aside for party lists, and the remaining 120 are decided by the results from the head-to-head races among thousands of candidates.

In the first group, a liberal alliance led by the former rebel prime minister Mahmoud Jibril appeared to hold more than half the seats in the capital Tripoli and the revolution stronghold of Benghazi, according to several party representatives.

In western Libya, where Jibril's tribe, the Warfalla, is prominent, his party also was on the top in early counts, the political officials said. In Libya's third-largest city, Misrata -- which was besieged by Gadhafi forces for weeks -- an upstart faction of local politicians appeared to hold the lead in another possible blow to Islamists.

Faisal Krekshi, secretary general of Jibril's Alliance of National Forces, said results were based on reports by party representatives at ballot-counting centres across the vast desert nation of six million people. Even officials from rival Islamist parties -- the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party and the Islamist Al-Watan -- described Jibril's alliance as the biggest winner in the race for the 80 party seats.

Shortly before the voting, Libya's grand mufti issued a religious edict prohibiting Libyans from voting for secularists. Meanwhile, independent candidates are seen as possible wildcards and could punish both the Muslim Brotherhood and Jibril's factions for having former ties to the Gadhafi regime.

Speaking to reporters, Jibril vowed to "commit ourselves to what the commission will announce officially" and urged for all political factions to work toward "national consensus."

Fathi Bin Essa, a prominent political analyst, described the elections as only a "rehearsal" to show "who has the real power in the street."

The run-up to the voting, too, showed the political complexities of trying to accommodate all sides.

Jibril's liberal alliance of about 40 groups emphasized the need for a "civil democratic" state, but said that Islamic Sharia law should guide legislation.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 9, 2012 A9