Tripoli (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A progressive
coalition has won the first democratic elections in Libyan history. The
National Forces Alliance (NFA) of Jibril Mohamoud, former Prime Minister of the
National Transitional Council, has won 39 seats in the Constituent Assembly of
the 80 reserved for political parties. Surprisingly,
the Muslim Brotherhood received short shrift by winning only 17 seats. The
remaining 120 seats in the Assembly are reserved for independent candidates.
Despite
the clear NFA victory over the Islamist formation the composition of the
Assembly tasked to write a new post-Gaddafi constitution remains uncertain. Experts
say everything will be decided by the alliances between the independents and
parties, where the Muslim Brothers claim to be favorites.
In
the election on July 7 last there were over 100 political parties, many of
which were born only in recent months. The
European Union sent observers to monitor the proper conduct of the vote which
saw a turnout of about 62% of those eligible. The
euphoria of the election, however, was marred by several attacks and clashes
between security forces and militia groups in favor of the partition of the
country. They
have repeatedly put at risk the smooth running of the vote. One
person was killed during an attack on Ajdabiya (North East of Libya).
The
future Constituent Assembly will have legislative powers and will stay in force
for at least a year. Then
elections will be held to choose the first democratic government after 40 years
of dictatorship. The
last free vote was in 1952, soon after independence from Italy.