I 1397 A.H., corresponding to 2 March 1977, the political system of the Jamahiriya has been based on the people's authority. An outline of the political system, legislative and executive mechanisms and judicial authority in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 14. The political system in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is based on direct popular democracy in which the masses play their political, economic and social role and take decisions concerning various aspects of public and private life. The concept of direct popular democracy is based on the twin pillars of people's congresses and people's committees. The people's congresses embody the sovereign decision-making authority, since sovereignty belongs to the people who exercise it through the people's congresses.
Executive authority is exercised by the people's committees.
The people as a whole take decisions through the people's congresses. The people also appoint the people's committees, which are the instruments responsible for implementation of the decisions taken by the people's congresses. Under the concept of direct popular democracy, the effective exercise of authority means that the people controls itself. It also means that there is no intermediary between political reality, consisting in authority, and social reality, consisting in the masses of the people. At the basic people's congresses, the people take decisions on foreign policy, planning, the economy, education, health, defence, industry and justice and also promulgate legislation and appoint a people's committee to implement the decisions taken in each of those fields.