Libyan Arab Socialist Union

This article refers to the ASU in Libya. For sister parties in other Arab states, see Arab Socialist Union

Arab Socialist Union الاتحاد الاشتراكي العربي الليبي
Leader	Muammar Gaddafi
Founder	Muammar Gaddafi
Founded	1971 (1971)
Dissolved	1977 (1977)
Headquarters	Tripoli, Libya
Ideology	Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, Pan-Arabism, Nasserism, Third Worldism[citation needed]
Politics of Libya Political parties Elections

The Arab Socialist Union of Libya (Arabic: الاتحاد الاشتراكي العربي الليبي‎, Al-Ittiḥād Al-Ištirākī Al-ʿArabī Al-Liby) was a political party in Libya.

Many aspects of Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan revolution were based on that of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Like Nasser, Gaddafi seized power with a Free Officers Movement, which, in 1971, became the Arab Socialist Union of Libya. Like its Egyptian counterpart, the Libyan ASU was the sole legal party, and was designed as a vehicle for integrated national expression rather than as a political party.

Bashir Hawady was the general secretary of the party. In May 1972 the Libyan ASU and the Egyptian ASU agreed to merge their two parties into a single body.