At this point, the victor in the Libyan elections is not at all important. It’s the holding of elections in that country, which is significant. After being choked by Muammar Gaddafi for more than 40 years, the Libyans from now on can decide on who will lead them. And it looks like pragmatists having the welfare of the people foremost in their minds will be at the helm with Gaddafi and others of his ilk out of the political scene.

For more than four decades, Libya’s wealth was plundered by Gaddafi and his henchmen whose priority was amassing wealth abroad. With oil reserves estimated to be the largest in Africa and fifth in the world, Libya is a naturally rich country. But the benefits of the large oil reserves were never enjoyed by the people. In fact, a large part of the revenues were channelled to Gaddafi and his minions and as result many Libyans did not have even basic facilities. That is now something of the past as Libyans look forward to a government which cares for them to assume power once the election results are fully announced. And this government will have to tread carefully and avoid riding roughshod over a mutually suspicious people while at the same time striving to ensure that the foundations of democracy are strengthened by giving equal rights and privileges to all Libyans. This means it will have to give priority to wooing and appeasing tribes empathetic to Gaddafi and that’s not going to be an easy task. Yet another task is to satisfy the aspirations of the people in the eastern part of the country where three oil export terminals have just reopened after being shut down for many months and this will go a long way towards achieving the interim government’s target of producing two million barrels per day by the end of this year. Of course, this is still a long way off from reaching the 2010 production capacity of 3.1 million barrels per day.

In other areas also, especially international relations, the next government faces a gargantuan task. The dictator’s unwise and unsound policies and his blatant interference in the affairs of other countries have resulted in the ostracisation of the country in recent years and this will have to be set right. This also means regaining the confidence of the international community, especially the Arabs with whom the new leaders will have to coordinate policies that will benefit all. Libya also will have to ensure that it does not lose its influential position in Africa. In other words, Libya needs to build a rapport with almost the entire world. At the same time, it needs reconciliation within. Not many will envy the post-poll Libyan leaders.