I am glad to hear Al Jazeera report that the GNC has started to discuss the many weighty issues surrounding the writing of the new constitution. The GNC must first decide who will choose the constitutional committee, how many will be on the committee, and who will comprise the committee. However, since the committee's composition will have a strong effect on the ultimate form of the constitution, debate on the most contentious issues must undoubtedly make its way onto the floor of the GNC: the amount of decentralization, whether to adopt a parliamentary or presidential system (with implications for the future name of the country), constitutional protection of minority rights, and whether Islamic shari'a will be 'a' source or 'the' source of legislation. I suspect it will be a long debate. Hopefully the ongoing EU parlimentary training of GNC members will keep discourse civil as tempers flare.According to Al Jazeera's interviews with leadership from various Libyan political parties and GNC members, it sounds like the GNC is not completely agreed on the idea of a 'Committee of 60' with 20 representatives each from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan. Nor is the GNC agreed on whether to appoint the committee or to follow the last minute amendment to the draft constitutional declaration that the constitutional committee should be elected. If this amendment designed to keep the peace with more assertive pro-federalist elements is cancelled, we could see a resurgence of the supporters of a Libyan version of federalism assert their desire to see the 'Committee of 60' model in the road closures and taking over of government buildings that characterized their behaviour leading up to the July 2012 election. You can read the Arabic report here - Intilaq Ma'araka al-Dustur bi-Libya.
GNC Starts Constitution Debate