Hundreds of Libyans gathered in Misrata on Saturday, September 19, for a major national meeting of the constitutional monarchy movement, bringing together delegates from organizing committees across the country. Participants represented a wide range of ages, including many young Libyans, in one of the movement’s most consequential national gatherings this year.

The location is significant. Misrata was one of the principal centres of the 2011 revolution against Muammar Gaddafi and remains one of western Libya’s most politically influential cities. Its forces played a major role in the revolution and in the campaign against the Islamic State. It is also the home city of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

The Senussi monarchy, by contrast, has historically been associated with eastern Libya and Cyrenaica. The idea of restoration has consequently faced questions over whether it could attract meaningful support in western Libya. Bringing hundreds of delegates from the major cities of Libya together in Misrata demonstrates the movement’s expanding reach and its determination to establish constitutional monarchy as a national Libyan project.

At its centre is Crown Prince Mohammed El Senussi, the dynastic heir to Libya’s Senussi throne and the leader of the campaign for a return to constitutional government.

Over the past two years, Prince Mohammed has led a sustained programme of national dialogue, meeting political figures, tribal leaders and representatives of different regions and communities. His central argument is that Libya can overcome its divisions by returning to the constitutional framework under which it became independent in 1951, while updating it where necessary to reflect the country today.

Abdel Razaq Henshir, a member of the Higher Coordination Council of the Royal Movement, said the conference represented the culmination of that work. “Prince Mohammed El-Hasan El-Reda El-Senussi decided to take the harder path, yet the one closest to the history and identity of the Libyan people,” Henshir said. He added that supporters had joined the movement because they believed constitutional monarchy could provide a framework for “democracy and transparency” under the rule of law.

The Misrata meeting comes at a particularly important moment for Libya’s political process.

The latest internationally backed attempt to move the country towards elections, the 4+4 dialogue, produced an agreement on August 30 intended to address outstanding electoral issues and establish a path towards presidential and parliamentary elections within 24 months.

But the political momentum around the initiative quickly gave way to fresh institutional disputes. The High Council of State rejected the agreement and removed two members who participated in the negotiations. The House of Representatives subsequently endorsed it, but the session was disputed as inquorate by other lawmakers.

Against this backdrop, the constitutional monarchy movement is advancing a different proposition: that Libya needs a durable constitutional settlement rather than another temporary political arrangement.

Its proposed foundation is the 1951 Independence Constitution, adopted when Libya became an independent state. It established a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, provided for an elected House of Representatives and made the government accountable to parliament. The King served as head of state while executive government was exercised through ministers responsible to the elected legislature.

Supporters argue that the system offers a potential answer to one of Libya’s enduring problems: the absence of a national institution capable of standing above regional, tribal and factional competition. Under the proposed model, elected politicians would govern while the monarch would serve as a unifying head of state.

The presence of younger Libyans at Saturday’s meeting gives that argument a further dimension. For many who have grown up since 2011, the monarchy is not a political system they remember. The 1951 Independence Constitution belongs to the country’s founding history. Under Prince Mohammed’s leadership, supporters are presenting it not simply as a return to the past, but as a constitutional foundation for Libya’s future.

The development also has implications for Libya’s international partners. The international community has repeatedly stressed that Libya’s political process must ultimately be Libyan-led and Libyan-owned, while calling for unified institutions, renewed legitimacy and credible national elections. The emergence of a civilian political movement organising across regional lines and advocating a defined constitutional settlement provides a direct expression of that principle.

For Europe, which has a strong interest in a stable, unified and sovereign Libya, the emergence of a national movement built around peaceful political organisation and a defined constitutional programme presents a significant development. Rather than another agreement negotiated solely among existing political institutions, the Misrata gathering demonstrated Libyans organising themselves around a vision for the country’s political future.

The geographical development is equally important. A movement historically associated with eastern Libya has established structures in Tripoli and elsewhere in the west and south, and has now brought hundreds of delegates together in Misrata.

For more than a decade, Libya’s political landscape has been dominated by rival governments, parliaments, armed formations and internationally mediated negotiations. The constitutional monarchy movement is building political influence through civilian organisation, national dialogue and a defined constitutional programme, with Prince Mohammed providing both a historic dynastic lineage and a recognized national figure around whom supporters can organize.

The contrast with the recent 4+4 experience is clear. While another agreement between Libya’s existing institutions has become mired in disputes over representation and authority, hundreds of Libyans gathered in Misrata to organise around a constitutional alternative of their own.

Saturday’s meeting therefore marks a significant moment in the development of Libya’s constitutional debate. The campaign around the 1951 Independence Constitution is no longer confined to the country’s east or to historical discussion. It is developing into an organised national movement, reaching across Libya’s regions and generations and putting the country’s constitutional future at the centre of the political debate.

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