Libya drops ban on parties formed along religious lines

REUTERS - Libya has dropped a ban against parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity, an official said, after the law irked Islamist parties in the run up to the first free election in June.

Members of the ruling National Transitional Council's judicial committee on Wednesday read out an amended version of a law governing the formation of political parties, making no mention of the ban, which was announced last week.

"This point has been dropped and so any party or political organisation will follow the law as it is now," Salwa Al-Dgheily, a member of the NTC judicial council, told Reuters.

Libyans go to the ballot box in June to elect a national assembly for the first time since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Eighty of the 200 seats will go to political parties, with the rest reserved for independent candidates.

Last week the NTC said it had passed the law, banning parties based on religious, tribal or ethnic lines. A new Islamist party viewed as a leading contender signalled it would challenge the decision.

Islamists have performed strongly in post-uprising elections in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco and they are also likely to do well in Libya, a socially conservative country where alcohol was already banned before the 2011 revolution.

Political analysts have said the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to emerge as Libya's most organised political force and an influential player in the oil-exporting state where Islamists, like all dissidents, were harshly suppressed during the 42 years of Gaddafi's dictatorial rule.

Libya's NTC has already indicated that the country will be run in accordance with sharia, though the exact place of Islamic law in the legal system will be settled only once a new constitution is written after elections.