Libyan Elections Favor Secular Coalition Over Islamist Party - USATODAY.com
A coalition of secular parties in Libya known as the National Forces Alliance won just shy of half the seats allocated to parties in parliamentary elections, besting the party of the Muslim Brotherhood, officials said Tuesday.
The results go against the trend of recent elections in the Arab world, where Islamists have predominated in Egypt and Tunisia following the overthrow of longtime rulers in what has been dubbed the “Arab Spring.”The Alliance took 39 out of the 80 seats allocated to official political parties in the new Libyan General National Congress in the country’s first elections in more than four decades following the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi.
Analysts said a key to the alliance’s success was the moderate message of its leader, Mohmoud Jibril, 60.