5. And Start With What You Agree On: Libyan political forces and the members of the Constituent Assembly should start by codifying all the ideas and principles they agree on, and making that consensus known to the public. This would immediately set a strong reassuring message to local and world public opinions, set a good start for constitutional dialogue, and allow sufficient focus from the start on what are truly debate issues. If something proves to be truly divisive and unlikely to be easily resolved, it might be best to keep it out of this first referendum-bound constitution, and leave it until further debate and potential adoption as a future amendment.
6. Rights And Freedoms as The Heart Of The Constitution: Whether a detailed listing will be inside the constitution itself or rather in a separate bill of rights, human and civil rights should be the driving force of this document. Enshrining and protecting the freedoms, rights and dignity of each individual citizen and every group in the country should be the true raison d’être of the constitution. In addition, and worthy of individual mention as a guardian of democracy, freedom of media in particular should be very well enshrined in the charter.
7. Transparency and Privacy: While constituent assembly members will definitely need degrees of legitimate privacy to go through the more delicate and controversial discussions, there should be nonetheless a strong focus on transparency and disclosure in general in the assembly. The public should regularly know where things stand, and what are the issues on the table.