National Forces Alliance
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The National Forces Alliance ( ar, تحالف القوى الوطنية, ') is a political alliance in
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
. The alliance was created in February 2012. It includes 58 political organisations, 236
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s, and more than 280
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
s. The alliance is of predominantly
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
tendency. It calls for "
moderate Islam Moderate Islam and ''moderate Muslim'' are labels that are used within counterterrorism discourse as the complement of "Islamic extremism" and imply that supporting Islamic terrorism is the characteristic of a "radical" faction within Islam, and a ...
" and a " democratic, civil state".


History

NFA was created in February 2012. On 14 March 2012, the former wartime prime-minister, Mahmoud Jibril, was elected president of the alliance. NFA competed in the
Libyan General National Congress election, 2012 Elections for a General National Congress (GNC) were held in Libya on 7 July 2012, having been postponed from 19 June. They were the first elections since the overthrow and death of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi a year earlier, the first free n ...
. It fielded 70 candidates across Libya. Bucking the Islamist trend set by the
Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
's victories in
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
and Tunisian elections, the NFA beat out the
Justice and Construction Party The Justice and Construction Party (JCP) or Justice and Development Party ( ar, حزب العدالة والبناء, ') is a political party in Libya associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. It was officially founded on 3 March 2012 in Tripol ...
(Muslim Brotherhood's political arm in Libya) to take first place. NFA received 48% of the popular vote and won 39 of the 80 party-list seats. It is also estimated that 25 of the 120 independents in the GNC are associated with the NFA. Two NFA deputies were subsequently removed from the GNC by the integrity commission due to them having served as officials under the Gaddafi regime. On 14 November 2012, NFA became the largest governmental political party.


Leadership

The leader represents the alliance in the political conversations, parliament or others. The general secretariat acts like the alliance's governing body. Former interim prime-minister,
Mahmoud Jibril Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally ( ar, محمود جبريل الورفلي), also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril (28 May 1952 – 5 April 2020), was a Libyan politician who served as the interim Prime Minister of Libya for seven and a half mon ...
is the leader of NFA. Abdul Rahman Al Shater was the secretary-general. As of 3 October 2012, the secretary-general is Salaheddin El Bishari.


Ideology

The NFA is widely considered towards the more liberal end of the political spectrum, but it does not describe itself as secularist. It has pledged to run the country as a "civil democratic" state, which respects minority groups, non-Muslims and foreigners. It doesn't believe the country should be run entirely by
Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
law, but does hold that Sharia should be "the main inspiration for legislation." NFA is eager to play down the "liberal" label in order not to scare off religious Libyans. Jibril denied the classification of the NFA as liberal, but stressed its heterogeneous composition and moderate positioning. He described the NFA as a moderate Islamic movement that recognises the importance of Islam in political life. A study by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs claims that "while perceived by some observers as 'liberal,' Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance is in fact an unideological rallying point for parts of the establishment."The study further explains that what NFA deputies "have in common is belonging to an economically privileged class and prominent families. Well-known representatives of the former exiled opposition are absent; instead the NFA builds on prominent local figures." The study argues that "The Alliance can best be understood as an unideological electoral coalition of those parts of the elites that remained in Libya during the Gaddafi era, and for this reason had to find some kind of accommodation with the regime." On the economy, the NFA favors globalization and attracting foreign investment. It supports privatization in principle, but says that Libya needs to first rebuild its infrastructure. It backs the idea of introducing minimum wage and expanding the Libyan social security system. NFA favors the creation of special economic zones along Libya's borders. From 2007 to early 2011, Jibril served in the Gaddafi regime as head of the National Planning Council of Libya and of the National Economic Development Board of Libya (NEDB).''Wikileaks - 09TRIPOLI386''
reviewed and hosted at ''
Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independe ...
''
While there, he was a protégé of
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...
and promoted
privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
and
liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...
policies.Enrico Piovesan
''Il possibile successore di Gheddafi''
, peacereporter, 24 March 2011
Many see Jibril's past association with the previous regime as an issue. German Institute for International and Security Affairs explains that "in line with its leaders’ own interests, the National Forces Alliance pursues a moderate line on the question of how comprehensively former regime officials should be excluded from politics and administration." While against federalism, the NFA strongly supports the decentralization of certain areas of governance such as education, healthcare and transportation. The NFA also proposes a proportion of taxes collected specifically for local councils to utilize as they see fit. On foreign policy, NFA secretary-general Krekshi said, "Definitely, we will be more open to cooperation with those countries who supported us in the revolution, but we will also deal with Russia and China as an interest of the state." According to a US 2011 diplomatic cable, "Jibril is a serious interlocutor who 'gets' the U.S. perspective."


References

{{Libyan political parties 2012 establishments in Libya Liberal parties in Libya Libyan nationalism Political parties established in 2012 Political parties in Libya Political party alliances in Libya