http://www.smh.com.au/world/spectre-of-islamism-as-libya-embraces-democracy-20120708-21pfa.html
Spectre of Islamism as Libya embraces democracy Date July 9, 2012 Not without drama, the country appears to have passed the election test, writes Ruth Pollard in Tripoli. a.. A man, with an inked finger, flashes the victory sign as he celebrates with the new Libyan flag at the end of voting day in Sirte July 7, 2012. Photo: Reuters The golden stallion with four white socks is everywhere, rearing on its hind legs and reaching for the sky. ''The government that will serve you wherever you are,'' reads the slogan beneath. A symbol of the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party, the horse has been a dominant image in Libya's election, stirring long-held feelings of distrust among Libyans who have watched the rise of Islamist parties after the Arab revolutions with growing concern. Although a deeply religious people, Libyans - men and women alike - pride themselves on keeping the ''middle ground'' when it comes to faith. ''I am a Muslim, I pray five times a day,'' said one man in his 70s. ''But I am never going to tell you to wear a headscarf.'' Central to the concerns is the oft-repeated belief that many candidates in Saturday's historic national elections, aware of the suspicion with which the Muslim Brotherhood is viewed, stood as independents and will only later reveal their connections to the decades-old Islamic movement. ''When the international forces pulled out so quickly they created a political vacuum and this only serves one force - the most organised group, and that is the Muslim Brotherhood,'' said Zahra Langhi, an activist with the Libyan Women's Platform for Peace. ''So we will not see a fair representation from this election, and that is the whole idea of democracy: to have all our voices heard.'' >From the victory of the moderate Islamist al-Nahda party in neighbouring >Tunisia to the dominance of the once long-banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's >parliamentary elections that culminated last month in the election of the >Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Mursi, in the presidential elections, the >sweep of Islamist victories is causing ripples of concern. In the conservative eastern city of Benghazi - considered the birthplace of the revolution that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year reign - Islamists won a large cut of the vote in recent council elections. ''I am afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood … and the West is also right to be frightened,'' said Enhemed Baraa, a former diplomat who served in Kuwait, Switzerland, the Philippines and Sri Lanka for the Gaddafi regime until he retired in 2006. ''We are Muslims here but 99 per cent of us are not extremists.'' Gaddafi ruthlessly supressed the Islamists during his time in power, just as former president Hosni Mubarak did the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. ''The one good thing Gaddafi did in 42 years was to keep the beards away,'' said Mr Mohammed, 38, a civil engineer who drives taxis in Tripoli, referring to the distinctive beards favoured by the Brotherhood. ''There are many candidates who are really with the Muslim Brotherhood but who are running as independents - only after the election will they reveal their true colours,'' he warned. Yet, despite these fears, the name most mentioned by voters the Herald spoke to - from central Tripoli to the former Gaddafi stronghold of Abu Salim - was Mahmoud Jibril and his National Forces Alliance. Mr Jibril, interim prime minister until he resigned in October, is viewed as a talented moderate with solid ideas for a program that will use the country's vast oil wealth to lift Libya out of its prolonged state of disrepair. As polls closed and celebrations began in earnest - cars filled with people flying multiple Libyan flags, voters cheering and hugging each other on the street, soldiers at checkpoints grinning and flashing the V for victory sign - it appeared Libya had passed its first democratic test: national elections. But the day was not without its dramas. Armed men attacked polling stations in Benghazi and other eastern cities, burning ballot boxes and shooting at voters, while in other centres voting papers went missing and some stations just failed to open, observers reported. The spokesman for the High National Electoral Commission, Wesam Alsgaym, could barely contain his relief that voting had gone ahead smoothly in the majority of centres. ''Mostly we were concerned about security because so many people are still armed, but things went well at 93 per cent of polling stations,'' he said. In many places voters were openly joyful about their newly acquired right to vote. Women were ululating, men were hugging and proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers. But in voting centres for the displaced Tawerghans - tainted as Gaddafi supporters, driven out of their 30,000-strong town near Misrata and forced to live in camps around Libya - the mood was more subdued. There were still big grins from those who had voted, but the overriding issue was one of loss - of their homes, burnt to the ground by angry Misratans - and their desire to return. ''We are so happy to vote, but mostly we want to go back - we were forced to move after the last Ramadan [late August last year] and we just want to go home,'' said one woman. Reconciliation between the Misratans and Tawerghans, or the militia who drove the Mashashia tribespeople from towns near Zintan, remains a challenge for the new general assembly. Another dominant image on the skyline were posters of the Islamist Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who stepped down as head of the Tripoli Military Council to join the Al Wattan (Homeland) Party. Voters repeatedly noted, often sarcastically, that the election posters of Mr Belhaj's party featured women with faces uncovered. ''It is a trick,'' one young woman, a university student, said. ''They want us to believe they are not strict Muslims, but we know differently.'' Wafa Alnass, a candidate for the moderate Islamist Al Wattan Li-Attanmiya Wa Al Rafah (Party for Homeland Development and Welfare) was quick to distance herself from Mr Belhaj. ''We believe there should be no extremism, no fighting, just a normal Islamic country,'' she said. Quick to express her concerns about independent candidates representing an organised Islamist movement, she says candidates for her party were screened with extra caution to weed out the pretenders. Attayb Alnass, the daughter of a sheikh, says her family threw themselves behind the revolution. Her son fought with the rebels. But she is scathing of the West's and Libya's failure to engage women in politics, saying they are the core of the family and have been shunned for too long. ''Hundreds of charities formed during the revolution, mostly run by women,'' she said. ''They would … drive food and medication to the rebels on the front line and nobody would ever stop and search their vehicles because Gaddafi thought women were stupid'' Primary poll results are expected by Thursday, then parties and candidates can challenge the count, with the final count due to be revealed on July 21. 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