Why was Libya originally organized as a federal state after independence?

Libya was originally organized as a federal state upon its independence in 1951 primarily because the country was composed of three distinct historical regions—Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan—that possessed differing political, economic, and religious traditions.12

Historically, these regions had been more closely linked to neighboring territories than to each other; for instance, Tripolitania was traditionally oriented toward Tunisia, while Cyrenaica was linked to Egypt. Furthermore, by 1945, the country was impoverished and divided, lacking a unified national history or strong geographic cohesion. The federal structure, which included a separate parliament for each province, served as a necessary compromise to manage these disparate elements and forces when the country achieved independence.3214