Kingdom_of_Libya

Kingdom of Libya

The Kingdom of Libya, (المملكة الليبية) originally called the United Kingdom of Libya came into existence on December 24, 1951 and lasted until a coup d'état on September 1, 1969 which turned the country into a republic.

History

Prior to World War II Libya had been a colony of Italy until they were driven out by the Allies in 1943. Following their defeat in World War II, Libya came under the control of France and the United Kingdom as a UN Trusteeship in 1947 when Italy formally relinquished its claim to Libya. As part of the arrangement the United Kingdom and France governed the three historical regions of Libya Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan. The UK was responsible for Tripolitania and Cyrenaica and France was responsible for Fezzan. On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that Libya should become independent before January 1, 1952.

Idris as-Senussi, the Emir of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica and the leader of the Senussi Muslim Sufi order, represented Libya in the UN negotiations, and on December 24, 1951, Libya declared its independence with representatives from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan declaring a union with the country being called the United Kingdom of Libya with Idris as-Senussi being offered the crown. In accordance with the constitution the new country had a federal government with the three states of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan having autonomy. The kingdom also had two capital cities Tripoli and Benghazi. A couple of years after independence on March 28, 1953 Libya joined the Arab League.

Following independence Libya faced a number of problems. There were no colleges in the country and just sixteen college graduates. Also the country had just three lawyers with not a single Libyan physician, engineer, surveyor or pharmacist in the kingdom. It was also estimated that only 250,000 Libyans were literate and that 10% of the population was blind, with eye diseases such as trachoma widespread. In light of these Britain provided a number of civil servants to staff the government.

In April 1955 oil exploration started in the kingdom with its first oil fields being discovered in 1959. The first exports began in 1963 with the discovery of oil helping to transform the Libyan economy.

On April 25, 1963 the federal system of government was abolished and in line with this the name of the country was changed to the Kingdom of Libya to reflect the constitutional changes.

As was the case with other African nations following independence, the Italian settlers in Libya held many of the best jobs, owned the best farmland and ran the most successful businesses. The monarchy came to an end on September 1, 1969 when a group of military officers led by Muammar al-Gaddafi staged a coup d’état against King Idris while he was in Turkey for medical treatment. The revolutionaries arrested the army chief of staff and the head of security in the kingdom. After hearing about the coup King Idris dismissed it as "unimportant" while it was reported the Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi had announced his support for the new regime.

The coup pre-empted King Idris' instrument of abdication dated August 4, 1969 to take effect September 2, 1969 in favour of the Crown Prince who had been appointed regent following the king's departure for Turkey. Following the overthrow of the monarchy the country was renamed the Libyan Arab Republic.

Government

The United Kingdom of Libya was a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with legislative power being exercised by the King in conjunction with Parliament.

The King

The King was defined by the constitution as the supreme head of state. Before he is able to assume constitutional powers the King would need to take an oath before a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives. All laws passed by parliament needed to be sanctioned and promulgated by the king. It was also the king's responsibility to open and close the sessions of Parliament, its also his responsibility to dissolve the House of Representatives in line with the constitution. The king was head of the kingdom's armed forces.

Parliament

The kingdom's parliament consisted of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both chambers met and closed at the same time.

The Senate was made up of twenty-four members appointed by the king. A seat in the Senate was restricted to Libyan nationals of at least forty years. The king appointed the President of the Senate, with the Senate itself electing two vice presidents which the king would then need to approve. The president and vice president served for a fixed two-year term. At the end of this term, the king was free to reappoint the president or replace them with someone else while the vice presidents faced re-election. The term of office for a senator was eight years. A senator could not serve for consecutive terms but could be reappointed in the future. Half of all the senators were to be replaced every four years.

Members of the House of Representatives were elected through universal suffrage following the constitutional change on April 25, 1963 with women previously not able to vote. The number of deputies in the house was determined on the basis of one deputy for twenty thousand people. Elections were held every four years unless parliament was dissolved earlier. The deputies were responsible for electing a speaker and two vice-speakers for the house.

Council of ministers

The King was responsible for appointing and removing Prime Minister's. The king also appointed and dismissed ministers based on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Council of Ministers were responsible for the direction of the internal and external affairs of the country and the council were accountable to the House of Representatives. Once a prime minister was removed from office this automatically resulted in dismissal of all the other ministers.

Subdivisions

The three provinces (1951-1963)

Following independence the kingdom was organised into three provinces Cyrenaica, Fezzan and Tripolitania, which are the three historic regions of Libya. Autonomy in the provinces was exercised through provincial governments and legislatures.

Province	Capital	Area km²	Colour on map
Cyrenaica	Benghazi	775,000	Yellow
Fezzan	Sebha	725,000	Orange
Tripolitania	Tripoli	250,000	Brown

1963 reorganisation

Following a change in the constitution abolishing the federal makeup of the country in 1963 the three provinces were reorganised into ten governorates known as Muhafazah in Arabic which were ruled by an appointed governor.