Libyan liberals 'lead polls' in Tripoli, Benghazi

AFP ^ | 7/8/12

[Uncle Slayton]

TRIPOLI — The leader of one of Libya's main Islamist parties said on Sunday that a rival liberal coalition had a solid advantage after the country's first election since the ouster of Moamer Kadhafi.

"The National Forces Alliance achieved good results in some large cities except Misrata. They have a net lead in Tripoli and in Benghazi," said Mohammed Sawan, who heads the Justice and Construction party.

[Uncle Slayton]

This is exactly what we expected with Obama's toppling of Kadhafi, in the the Liberals would take over Libya.

[abercrombie_guy_38]

Freepers complain when the Islamists are elected in Egypt and the non-Islamists are elected in Libya...

[Uncle Slayton]

Don’t you see what the Liberals have done to this country?

We cannot support any Liberal anywhere!

[dynoman]

I have to wonder what the word liberal means in the context of Libya. In Europe conservative and liberal have nearly the exact opposite meaning they have here in the US. If that is the case in Libya liberals in control is a good thing. Liberals would not be hard line Islamic extremists, they would be the ones promoting liberty.

[spetznaz]

Freepers complain when the Islamists are elected in Egypt and the non-Islamists are elected in Libya...

How true. I think most (hopefully) only mean it in jest, but there are some who probably apply the Democrat/Republican dichotomy to every political situation around the globe. Such would probably prefer Islamist 'Conservatives' to non-Islamist 'Liberals.' They must also get quite confused by European Conservatives.

[silverleaf]

WTH is a Libyan “liberal”?

[Strategerist]

We cannot support any Liberal anywhere!

Unfortunately the meaning of the word "liberal" got badly twisted in the U.S. in the 1970s-1980s, which is why I never use it -"leftist" is a much better word for people to use to describe what they usually call "liberals" here.

I admire Reagan greatly, but this largely was his doing.

[sergeantdave]

I’m sure it won’t do any good, but here’s reasonably objective synopsis of Libya’s political parties. We’ll shortly get our clueless characters in here, insisting that Libyan “Liberals” are the second coming of Hitler’s Nazi party.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/facts-about-key-parties-in-libya-s-elections-1.449463

” The Alliance of National Forces (Liberal):

The group is a liberal coalition of 40 political parties, 236 NGOs and 280 independent figures.

The coalition is led by Mahmoud Jibril, who was a senior official and economist under Gadhafi’s regime until he joined sides with the uprising, serving as the rebels’ interim prime minister for almost eight months. He enjoys the support of one of the country’s largest tribes, the Warfala.”

[Strategerist]

We’ll shortly get our clueless characters in here, insisting that Libyan “Liberals” are the second coming of Hitler’s Nazi party.

The results of the Libyan election will be considered a disaster unless a party wins that:

1) Bans Islam in Libya

2) Donates all Libyan oil revenue to Sarah Palin

[JSDude1]

Liberals are a (coalition) in a different context in Islamic nations than they are in Western nations with a foundation in Christianity and European culture.

I dare say that in the Islamic nations we would be (extreme) liberals.

[mrsmith]

Yesterday’s report:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/07/us-libya-elections-idUSBRE86412N20120707
“... parties and candidates professing an attachment to Islamic values dominate and very few are running on an exclusively secular ticket.
The Justice and Construction offshoot of Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood is tipped to do well, as is al-Watan, the party of former CIA detainee and Islamist insurgent Abdel Hakim Belhadj.”

We’ll see...