TRIPOLI: Eight candidates are to contest a Sept. 12 election among members of the General National Congress to become Libya’s new prime minister, an official source said yesterday.
Among them are Mahmoud Jibril, who led a transitional council during last year’s revolution which toppled Muammar Qaddafi and now heads the liberal National Forces Alliance, and Electricity Minister Awadh Al-Barassi.
The vote for the new premier will be held among the 200 members of the country’s national assembly that was itself elected in early July.
Current vice premier Mustafa Abu Shagur, considered close to the hard-liners, is also a candidate to succeed the transitional prime minister, Abdel Rahim Al-Kib, the Integrity and Patriotism Commission added.
The commission ratifies prospective candidates to ensure they have not been implicated in cases of corruption or in repression during the 2011 uprising that led to Qaddafi’s ouster and subsequent killing.
Jibril’s coalition of some 60 small liberal groupings holds 39 of the 80 assembly seats reserved for political parties.
Eight vie to become Libya’s new PM
