National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil

Autocrats may claim that democracy assistance amounts to unwelcome interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states, but Libyan democrats are pleading for support, simply to help level the playing field against Islamist rivals bankrolled from abroad.

“We only receive money from volunteers and from members of the party,” says Ali Motah al-Sriti, a deputy leader of the newly-created National Democratic Party. “But the Islamic parties are getting support from other countries. We want support from western countries. We want logistical support and money.”

Libyans are frustrated with the interim authorities in the National Transitional Council, complaining that the council has failed to purge former regime elements or disarm rival militias. But the NTC lacks the necessary technical capacity, time and political experience, writes Barak Barfi.

“Today, the NTC simply does not have the human resources to consolidate the transition,” he argues:

As in Tunisia and Egypt, secular and liberal democrats are suffering from political naivete, inchoate organization and inadequate funding, observers suggest.

“Weak political awareness combined with big money interests coming to the field is very dangerous for the future of Libya,” said Essam Mohammed Ezzobair, a political writer with Tripoli’s al-Arab newspaper:

But lavish amounts of foreign funding from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere in the Gulf are finding their way to illiberal forces, analysts suggest. (Salafist groups received up to $80 “before the elections for Egypt alone,” according to one account).

So it’s no surprise that Libya’s “Islamists have aggressively entered the political scene”:

As in Egypt, the Libyan Brotherhood claims that its new political wing – named Al-Adalaa Wa Al-Beena, or the Justice and Development Party – will include Islamists and independents.

“This is the founding conference of a national, civil party with an Islamic frame of reference. It is being established by the Muslim Brotherhood and many independents who are not affiliated with any Islamic organizations,” said Lamine Belhadj, a leading Islamist, senior NTC official and a member of the commission charged with organizing June’s elections.

The article originally appeared on Democracy Digest