One year after the 7 July 2012 General National Congress election, Libya's first election in over fifty years, the General National Congress has not completed its primary function of overseeing the completion of Libya's new constitution. Even the rules for electing the Committee of Sixty that will write the constitution have not been finalized.
Abdel Rahman Habil writing in Al Hayat (English translation in Al Monitor) views Libya's militias as the largest barrier to building lasting government institutions and formulating a new constitution. Habil says:
'Rare are the cases where an armed revolution has immediately moved toward democracy. This does not require less than a collective awareness and founding fathers who have the caliber [of the founding fathers of] the American revolution, let alone if the nation is plagued by factional, sectarian, regional or tribal affiliations, immature parties — which one takes to mean tribes more committed to the interests of their party’s members rather than the nation — not to mention egocentric purposes. The armed elite does not always lay down its weapons. How do they lose “revolutionary legitimacy” and “the gains of the revolution,” while many of them do not realize [the meaning of] the state, the law and other such abstract concepts.'
Umar Khan writing in the Libya Herald also chronicles the path of the people's growing unhappiness with the GNC in its term so far, and the chaotic effect of armed groups on the collective decisions of its members. Provided that the GNC makes the policy choices necessary to disarm and demobilize remaining militias, there is some hope that new General National Congress President Nuri Abusahmain will be in a position to make good on his intentions to make the constitution the highest priority of the GNC. Khan writes:
'The new GNC president, Nuri Abu Sahmain, has assured the people he will focus on the constitution and will try to take all parties together. But this is easier said than done with every party seeking bigger role in drafting the constitution. However with their announcement that they will boycott all GNC business except work on the constitution, the NFA and the Justice and Construction Party may just boost Sahmain’s position.'