Gaddafi refused on the basis that the RCC (which had come to power, including Gaddafi, in a coup) had not been elected, and therefore it could not ask for or accept his resignation. When RCC members responded that Gaddafi was unelected with them, he agreed to make a speech in Zuwara announcing his resignation to the people, rather than the RCC. Instead he used the speech to declare the beginning of a Cultural Revolution, and used the rapid mass mobilization of his supporters to establish his uncontested leadership over the country.