Libya Improving in Efforts to Establishing Democracy, Political Rights, Human Group Says

Libya made major strides toward establishing democracy and political rights last year, the community-primarily based, social action agency and pro-democracy watchdog Freedom House stated in a report released Wednesday.

Libya and Egypt had been two nations that Freedom House ranked as "partly free" by the end of 2012 due to successful elections, enhancing more than "not free" the year prior to.

"Libya continues to endure from a lack of clear government control over many components of its territory, a issue that is compounded by the actions of autonomous nearby militias and radical Islamists.

"But in defiance of forecasts of chaos and failure, the nation held effective elections for a General National Congress that included candidates from a range of regional and political backgrounds, whilst free expression and civic activity continued to grow," Freedom House's report said.

Libya's advance in the rankings came regardless of the militia assault on the US consulate in the country's eastern city of Benghazi hat killed 4 Americans, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens with the US suspecting al-Qaida-linked militants carrying out the attack.

The killings in Benghazi became an problem in the US presidential election, with Republican candidate Mitt Romney trying to portray the attack as a major bungle by President Barack Obama's administration. Conservatives argued it was an instance of al-Qaeda infiltration or radical Islamic influence spreading in Libya on Obama's watch.

The findings counter a widespread impression of Libya as anarchic following the Benghazi attack, nevertheless, a State Department spokeswoman, Ariel Vaagenar has been reported saying that her division had no comment on the Freedom House report prior to its release.

Freedom House's annual ranking of political rights and civil liberties in nations around the globe discovered worrying trends in numerous regions exactly where it said the West was failing to promote and defend democracy.

Freedom House president David J. Kramer stated: "What we've learned over the years is that gains for freedom generally take place with the active participation of democracies like the United States and these in Europe. And where they have opted out of the struggle, the result is generally a defeat for freedom."

Although classifying Egypt's status as “partly free”, Freedom House nevertheless said it was alarmed about the precariousness of democracy there. It also noted that President Mohamed Mursi won an election usually viewed as fair only for him to proclaim in November “his correct to rule without judicial oversight as component of a bid to push through a new constitution, only to step back incrementally in the face of street protests.”

Freedom House's chief researcher, Arch Puddington, observed that his organisation's findings “point to the growing sophistication of modern authoritarians. They are flexible they distort and abuse the legal framework they are adept at the techniques of modern propaganda. But especially because the Arab Spring, they are nervous, which accounts for their intensified persecution of popular movements for change.”

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