Libya Hurtles Toward Democracy
Returning from observing the July 7 elections, it was hard for Daniel Serwer to believe that Libya, a pariah state for most of his adult life, might actually be on the path to democracy. But the elections went surprisingly well, he writes, and a strong collective hatred for Muammar Gadhafi could have contributed to the success.
Returning from observing the July 7 Libyan elections last week, it was hard for me to believe that Libya — a pariah state for most of my adult life — might be on the path to democracy. Why, I wondered, did the elections go so well? Why were the results so “good” from a US as well as Libyan perspective? What are the implications of the results for the US and the region?
Based on my experience in Benghazi, the answers so far are encouraging, although significant challenges remain.
