U.S. and the Arab and Muslim World

March 7, 2008 Special Dispatch No.1863 Libyan Leader Al-Qadhafi: In America, "A Candidate Who Wants People To Vote For Him Keeps Talking About Change... They Want to Change America and its Current Political System"; "The Whole World Will Return to the Libyan Model" of Government In a public address, Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi discussed the U.S. electoral system, saying that the Americans want to change it, that "a very small minority decides who will be president" in the U.S., and that "none of the peoples" really want elections. He also said that "the whole world will return to the Libyan model." The address aired on Libyan TV on March 2, 2008: To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1703.htm. To view the MEMRI TV page on Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi, visit:http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/525.htm . "The Whole World will Return to the Libyan Model... A Candidate Who Wants People to Vote For Him Keeps Talking About Change" Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: "You must have seen elections and political parties throughout the world. You must have seen what a farce they are. The whole world will return to the model of the republic of the masses, to communes, to popular conferences, to popular security, to popular defense, to popular capitalism, and to popular socialism. The whole world will return to the Libyan model. I have watched the world and the people in it. I've seen that in America, a candidate who wants people to vote for him keeps talking about change. They all keep saying 'change, change.' They want to change America and its current political system. They want to make a change in their lives. They say their system is a failure, that their government is a failure, and that their elections are a failure. An American who wanted to get elected said: 'I will make a change.'" "None of the Peoples Want Elections" "To this day, there is no ideal ruling system in the world, which can resolve the problems. There are conflicts everywhere. They are still asking: 'Who won the elections - Al Gore or Bush?' If someone gets 49% of the votes, and you get 51%, you become president, against the will of 49% of the voters. Is that democracy? That is a farce. No more than 30% of the public goes to vote in the elections. None of the peoples want elections. They got fed up with the farce of elections and those trash ballots. None of those who vote are willing to die for the president. They say: 'Whoever rules - rules. It has nothing to do with us.'" "A Very Small Minority Decides Who Will Be President... Is That a Democracy?" "I asked the Americans: How could you elect a crazy man like Reagan? He turned out to be actually crazy. They said to me: 'Never. How could we possibly elect someone like that?' So who voted for him? They said: 'We have no idea, but it wasn't us.' They said: 'We didn't even go to vote. A small group of people, to whom he gave money, voted for him.' "If 30% at most vote in the elections in a country in which 10 million people are eligible to vote, then seven million people said they would not vote. When there are 10 million eligible voters, at most three million turn out to vote. "Let's say that there are three candidates. The first two get 1,000,000 votes each, and the third gets 1,000,001 votes. The third candidate wins and becomes the president. In other words, nine million voters will be ruled against their will. A very small minority decides who will be president, and they say they got a majority because they won one extra vote. Is that a democracy? How can you rule nine million people who did not vote for you? This is the epitome of dictatorship."