Libya Bans Religious, Tribal Or Ethnic Political Parties

TRIPOLI, April 25 (Reuters) - Libya, preparing for elections in June, has banned political parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

National Transitional Council spokesman Mohammed al-Harizy said the council passed the law governing the formation of political parties on Tuesday evening.

"Parties are not allowed to be based on religion or ethnicity or tribe," he told Reuters.

He did not make clear how this would affect a political party formed in March by Libya's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists. The new party is viewed as a leading contender in the June polls, the first since last year's overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

Islamist parties had been expected to vie with secular ones for seats in a national assembly that will draft a new constitution for the North African country.

Political analysts say the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to emerge as the most organised political force and an influential player in the oil-exporting country where Islamists, like all dissidents, were harshly suppressed for 42 years.

Islamists have performed strongly in post-uprising elections in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco since October and they are also likely to do well in Libya, a socially conservative country where alcohol was already banned before the revolution. (Reporting By Hadeel Al-Shalchi; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[ItsEmu]

11:36 PM on 06/09/2012

Funny, they are already more advanced than our "democracy".

[stacknef]

01:10 PM on 04/26/2012

Maybe we should take some advice from the Libyans now.....

[Nico Jordaan]

07:36 AM on 04/26/2012

Why ban alcohol if your going to be sepperating Church and State is the banning of Alcohol not a Islamic thing?

[Nico Jordaan]

07:18 AM on 04/26/2012

Um this is no better then what Mubarak did? I think this is more US influence to keep the Muslimbotherhood out of politics. Well Shall we just wait for another war then?

[RadicalAmerica]

02:59 AM on 04/26/2012

Why can't we do this here?

[kyramizuno]

04:23 AM on 04/26/2012

Because religion talks in America, and too many people are scared to stand against it.

[RadicalAmerica]

05:07 AM on 04/26/2012

Like sheep bleating until they reach the circular knives.

[barefootcountrygirl]

02:08 PM on 04/26/2012

Freedom of religion was one of the reasons people immigrated here in horrible ships to an unknown land and left their loved ones and possessions behind. PERSECUTION because of religion caused them to brave the waters to come here. Political persecution frove some.
We welcomed all of them and promised freedom from persecution, so they could practice their religion freely. The country was begun because of those reasons. Let's not undo the country to undo that!

[ItsEmu]

11:36 PM on 06/09/2012

We need a revolution. Then we can do this here, too.

[LMPE]

02:02 AM on 04/26/2012

We need to ban religious parties in the US, namely the theo-fascist GOP.

[DeceptionIsReality]

11:57 PM on 04/25/2012

excellent

[lcelidon]

11:10 PM on 04/25/2012

good first step, it's a new day.......there is hope.

[Craig Gosling]

10:59 PM on 04/25/2012

Fascinating Libyan concept of banning religious, tribal, and ethnic political parties, but It will be hard to enforce. That is what the US has practiced in the past, but recently it is shifting. The Tea Party is mostly Evangelical and Conservatives are mostly Evangelical. They proclaim this bias openly and appeal to other Evangelicals to join them regardless of past political leanings and voting. They suggest that to vote for Obama is a vote against God's will. Evangelical pastors find themselves with great power because their sermons and private conversations are accepted without question. If a pastor has a "hot-line to God, how can a parishioner disagree? Progressive (Democrat) Black Evangelicals and Hispanic Catholics are conflicted. Do they vote God or do they vote on the issues?

[tolerantvoice]

08:17 AM on 04/26/2012

Too bad most voters don't understand what you are saying. The shift to religious based political action is eroding the basic fiber of the US.

[Craig Gosling]

12:41 PM on 04/26/2012

Tolerantvoice - It's true, but according to surveys, religion is on the wane and secularism is advancing. Let's hope this continues for sake of our children's future.

[barefootcountrygirl]

02:11 PM on 04/26/2012

Who says they are evangelical? And what is wrong with that, anyway? This is a country of many religions and each should be free to believe and practice what they want. I say, VOTE GOD. By the way, what denominations are you calling evangelical? What is your definition of evangelical, also?

[Craig Gosling]

09:00 PM on 04/26/2012

Barefoot - You have some good points which I will try to answer. Nothing is wrong with being evangelical as long as you don't do what evangelicals do, evangelize people who don't want to be evangelized and vote how you are told to vote by church leaders. If enough people VOTE GOD we will have a theocracy instead of a democracy (terrible thought). One religion will dominate, while others will join with non-believers and revolt against the ruling religion (another terrible thought).
Evangelicals are those assemblies of religious folk (usually fundamentalists) that feel the need to go out to convert and save those who have not already joined with them. Evangelicals do not believe in evolution and other physical sciences that contradict the Christian Bible. Most evangelicals are politically conservative. Thanks for asking

[Bradley Greig Smith]

09:10 PM on 04/25/2012

This shows for a fact that the National Transitional Council is a puppet group. They might have gotten away with banning religious groups from forming parties. However, telling the tribes that they can't have tribal representation isn't going to fly. Many of the people of Libya already feel that the war was agitated by outside forces bent on destroying their tribal unity. This will simply confirm that suspicion. The NTC is already considered shills by most, they are not elected, they are heavily influenced by the West and now they are trying to break up their tribal unity. Nothing good will come of this. At the very least this will be met with complete disdain and at the worst with outright rebellion.

[fatherdjohnson]

10:35 PM on 04/25/2012

It may very well be that last year's American-facilitated savagery was just a practice run for the real fight to determine Libya' destiny.

[jsonlau]

09:03 PM on 04/25/2012

Yeah, who wants a religious fanatic in office anyway [cough]Romney[cough]? Can I get a hallelujah?

[thewebdoctorisin]

06:55 AM on 04/26/2012

Amen, and don't forget your temple underwear today!

[barefootcountrygirl]

02:12 PM on 04/26/2012

I want a religious person in office. One that's not fake, but truly is! Why would you say Romney is a religious fanatic? I haven't seen that.

[jsonlau]

03:06 PM on 04/26/2012

What in history has caused more war and human suffering than religion? It's simple math - religion + politics = hell on Earth.

[Hankfrank]

09:02 PM on 04/25/2012

This is a GREAT idea. I wish we had something like this in the USA.

[yivvy148]

06:09 PM on 04/25/2012

Maybe they believe in Separation of Church and State. What a novel concept! Maybe the Republican Party should be paying attention to the Libya model of government.

[Bradley Greig Smith]

09:11 PM on 04/25/2012

Or maybe these un-elected shills are trying to break apart the tribal unity of the people.

[yivvy148]

10:02 PM on 04/25/2012

Your close, it's the tribal DISunity.

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

10:13 PM on 04/25/2012

I won't speak for Libya itself because I am not thoroughly knowledgeable about the inner workings of the country but 'tribal unity' and political parties based on religion is what is wrong in many parts of the world. From the outside it looks like a good addition to the foundation for the countries future.

[Thomas Stieglitz]

05:37 PM on 04/25/2012

Only the dead will be allowed to run for office and vote.

[Jan Harper]

05:35 PM on 04/25/2012

This is just a ploy by the NATO backed factions to disenfranchise any threat to their power by banning the formation of parties based on things people actually have in common with each other.

Unenforceable nonsense anyway.