In 1973, Gaddafi organized the Arab Socialist Union, which became the sole legal political organization in the country. In 1977 the General People's Congress, representing numerous national committees, adopted a decree (the "Sabha Declaration") on the establishment of a "regime of people's power" (the so-called 'direct popular democracy') in Libya, and the country was renamed the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The Revolutionary Command Council was also renamed and transformed into the General Secretariat of the Congress. In practice, the Arab Socialist Union then merged with the apparatus of the General People's Congress. The people elected into the General Secretariat of the General People's Congress were Gaddafi (General Secretary) and four of his closest associates — Major Abdessalam Jalloud, and generals Abu-Bakr Younis Jabr, Mustafa al-Harrubi and Huveyldi al-Hmeydi.