In an essay published by Brooking's Lawfare blog on 19 August, Libya-Analysis Managing Director Rhiannon Smith and Founder Jason Pack analyse the institutional underpinnings (or lack thereof) of the the planned national elections in Libya this year. They argue that because of a lack of judicial accountability and security, among other problems, elections risk exacerbating violence rather than resolving it. They conclude that:
For Libyans, the key question is not “who should be our president,” but rather “how should our country’s vast resources be used and distributed.” Yet nothing in this current electoral process allows for such questions to be resolved in a structured way. By setting elections as the final destination within a fixed timeframe, without any rules to govern the journey or delimit the powers of the winners, the process risks becoming a free-for-all, in which those who are willing to use brute force and play dirty are best poised to get ahead. Ironically, careless electoral talk risks further undermining the country’s fledgling accountable institutions and setting back any nascent process towards democratic governance.
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