On Friday 7 February, thousands of Libyans waved the “red card” against the General National Congress (GNC), the highest political authority in the country. Under the Constitutional Declaration of August 2011, the GNC's term was scheduled to end that day and the protesters cried “foul” in reaction to the congress's announcement the previous Monday, that it would extend its term. The announcement was issued after 146 of the GNC's 200 members voted in favour of a “roadmap” extending the GNC's term for four months following its scheduled expiration on 7 February. It had been a stormy session that day, attended by only 149 of the congress's members who were elected on 7 July 2012. Tempers flared primarily between two camps. One on side stood the Islamists, consisting primarily of the Justice and Construction Party, the political wing of the Libyan chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, the “Loyalty to the Blood of the Martyrs” bloc, which emerged from the previous Libyan Combat group, and independent Islamists of various orientations. On the other side stood the National Forces Alliance, the largest political bloc in the GNC and representative of liberals, leftists, Arab nationalists and other political and tribal groupings. The various Islamist groups were united in their support for extending the GNC's term. Fearing the repeat of the Egyptian scenario (the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood from power) in Libya, they argued that this measure was the only guarantee for keeping the democratic transition process on track. The other camp, in view of the broader spectrum of opinions it represents, wavered. On Friday, major squares in Tripoli, Benghazi, Derna, Tobruk, Zintan and other cities filled with angry demonstrations against the GNC, which protesters hold responsible for the deteriorating situation in the country in the post-Gaddafi period. Simultaneously, a train of MPs raced to tender their resignation from the GNC, whether due to pressures on the part of their constituencies (as was the case with the MPs from Tobruk) or due to death threats. One victim of the latter was Najah Salouh who told the Libyan Ajwaa Al-Balad newspaper that she had handed in her resignation after receiving threats that she would be shot in the head if she did not resign. Now further uncertainty hovers over the already crisis plagued country in view of the lack of consensus over the fate of the only elected institution in the country but, at the same time, the institution that had failed to live up to the Libyan people's expectations. Emerging from the 2011 Constitutional Declaration, the GNC had been tasked with the creation of an interim government to manage the interim phase and the creation of a constituent assembly to draw up a permanent constitution. An interim government was formed. It is currently headed by Ali Zeidan, whom the GNC appointed prime minister following the resignation of his predecessor, Mustafa Bou Shaqour. Shaqour was unable to obtain the GNC's approval for his proposed cabinet because of rivalries and disputes over ministerial seats and quotas that erupted in the GNC. Eventually, Shaqour threw in the towel, declaring that he refused to bow to regional, tribal and partisan blackmail when trying to forge a government. Zeidan, who took over several days after Shaqour resigned, did manage to secure a GNC vote of confidence for his cabinet team in November 2012. However, his government's performance was awkward and erratic and numerous ministers subsequently resigned as a result of personality clashes with the prime minister. Meanwhile, in they eyes of a large segment of public opinion, Zeidan's chief failure was in his management of the extremely worrisome security question. The widely perceived incompetency of that government has led to more than one attempt to rally a no-confidence vote in the GNC. While the campaigns to oust the Zeidan government sometimes seemed near tipping point, they never succeeded in building up sufficient momentum. Interestingly, however on Sunday, two days after the GNC approved its own continuation, the congress's official spokesman Omar Hamidan announced that there was a general trend within the GNC to dismiss the current interim government. Although in December Zeidan had announced that he would conduct a cabinet reshuffle, it was not until that same Sunday that the prime minister submitted the names of candidates for eight portfolios. These, according to Hamidan, were the portfolios of the interior, media, petroleum, housing, youth and sports, economy, local government and finance. Until now, the Zeidan cabinet had operating without ministers for the interior, youth, and social affairs. Commenting on the demonstrations that had been triggered by the GNC's decision to prolong its term, Hamidan said: “Some media outlets practiced deception in an attempt to enflame and incite the street and turn the 7 February movement (the movement that began the Libyan revolution) into strife.” He also said that some TV channels “transmitted reports to the effect that some MPs had resigned, whereas these MPs have confirmed to us that they have not resigned”. He added that those TV channels had been used as vehicles to issue threats against some GNC members in order to force them to resign and that the GNC would turn this matter over to the public prosecutor. Also on Friday, a TV station operated by the National Forces Alliance announced that some Libyan airports had issued flight bans against a number of GNC members. Then, on Sunday, a group of youth who intended to travel to Uganda to protest against the Libyan ambassador in Kampala were prevented from departing from Benghazi's Banina International Airport. The GNC spokesman partially confirmed these reports. He said that some GNC members from the eastern zone had been banned from travelling abroad and that this matter had been raised in the GNC session on Sunday. According to Hamidan, the GNC chairman notified the interim prime minister and Zeidan, in turn, “will charge the Commander of Special Forces in Benghazi, Colonel Wanis Bou Khamada, with the task of resolving this matter”. Following Friday's protests, supporters of the GNC's decision to extend its term organised counter demonstrations to what they termed the conspiracy to topple the congress. The demonstrators hurled various offensive epithets at those protesting the extension, such as “corrupters” and “traitors”. The heightened polarisation darkens an already bleak shadow over the country's political future, especially in view of the total absence of any effective components of an institutionalised state, and a society that is deeply fractured along political, regional and tribal lines. Commenting on the worsening political crisis, the chairman of the commission charged with preparations for the Libyan national dialogue, Fadial Al-Amin said: “Popular frustration at the political turmoil is growing more acute and is accompanied by clear repercussions, and not only on the political ferment. More significantly, it threatens disastrous repercussions in terms of the unity of Libyan territory and the national entity.” Al-Amin followed this assessment with an urgent appeal to all Libyan factions to rise above political conflicts in the interest of restoring the stability necessary to complete the interim process and establish the institutions of government. Only a stable Libya will be able to benefit from and build on international technical support that is being offered in the fields of institution building, training, sound governance and fighting corruption, he said. In the opinion of the Libyan writer Abdel-Razzak Ramadan Shibshaba, the “illegitimate” extension of the GNC's term is “a dangerous step that will have negative repercussions on the future of the Libyan state”. He called on GNC members to hold new elections so that this year can be “the year of the new Libya that has ended the era of dictatorship”. Meanwhile, further notching up tensions in the country, unidentified gunmen in Derna assassinated former Libyan public prosecutor Abdel Aziz Al-Hisadi on Saturday. Judge Al-Hisadi had resigned from his post 16 March 2013.
