Mohamed El Senussi, the son of the late Crown Prince of Libya, Hasan El-Senussi reiterated his call for the return to a constitutional monarchy in Libya.
He explained that “decades of totalitarian and dictatorial rule have not led to a stable government in the country.”
“Over a decade has passed, but the Libyans do not see the point of the loose Parliamentary system, which led to the widening of the political conflict,” the ambitious Crown Prince told Maghreb Voices newsite.
He claimed that “the democratic rule of the monarchy was established to protect the country from the brunt of social and tribal conflicts. Holding more elections outside the royal framework will only lead to more conflicts and disputes. The King’s role in Libya is to guarantee the course of the political process, and not to allow divisions between the social and political components in this large and sprawling country.”
The Crown Prince indicated that “there is no opportunity to solve the security problems in Libya, in the absence of an elected authority whose legitimacy is recognized by all parties. Also, without a constitution that defines the laws of the political process, solutions in Libya will not succeed.”
In March, El Senussi called for the return of the Libyan monarchy, and the resumption of work on the constitution which founded the state.
He tweeted that the Libyan nation “has the right to adhere to the restoration of the constitution and ‘legitimacy’ in the country.” He added that the “monarchy came with the free will of the people following Libya’s independence.”
El Senussi also claimed that the 1951 constitution “confirms the constants of Libyan patriotism, the unity of Libyan soil, and the sovereignty of the state.”
In January, El Senussi told The Media Line that the current situation in Libya is “akin to being lost in the desert, and that in order to find a way out of this predicament, the country must return to the point from which it deviated.”
El Senussi believes that “this means re-establishing the royal house and returning to the principles upon which the state was founded.” He asserted that “this is the only way to restore order and stability in the country, and move forward in a positive direction.”
His proposal to restore the monarchy “should not be viewed as an attempt to return to the past, but rather as a starting point for a new era in Libya.” The monarchy he envisions, he says, “will be like the constitutional monarchies in countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.”
Under this system, the “king will serve as the supreme commander of the armed forces, which will be a people’s army, and will appoint a Prime Minister following democratic elections for the Parliament.”
Libya is currently facing a political crisis after the Libyan Parliament swore in a new Prime Minister, former Interior Minister, Fathi Bashagha in February 2022. MP’s argued that the incumbent Prime Minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba’s mandate expired when the elections failed to take place.
Dbaiba has refused to cede power, amid the fallout from a failed attempt to hold national elections in December 2021.