Libya moderates beat Muslim Brotherhood in election

A moderate coalition has beaten the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya's first post-Gaddafi election, reversing the trend of success for Islamist parties in Arab Spring countries.

The National Forces Alliance, led by the wartime prime minister Mahmud Jibril, gained 39 of 80 seats available to parties in the general national congress.

The Justice and Construction Party, founded by Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, took 17 seats. The remainder went to a variety of smaller parties.

The results were welcomed in the West, with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the head of Nato, whose forces were crucial in removing Col Muammar Gaddafi, describing the elections as "an impressive step forward".

The success of the NFA did not translate into a majority because a further 120 seats were allotted to independent candidates whose allegiances are hard to pin down. The NFA is seen to be at the more progressive end of Libya's political spectrum.

It is led by technocrats who lived abroad and advocate a moderate Islam, economic liberalisation and openness to the West.

Jibril played a key role drumming up international support for the 2011 revolution that toppled Gaddafi's 42-year regime but the party rejects the label of secularist and describes itself as a moderate Islamic political entity.

The election outcome is unlikely to herald a new era of liberal reforms in a country where alcohol is already banned and most women are veiled.

The new congress will, however, house at least 30 women, due to a system which obliged parties to alternate on their lists between male and female candidates.

The main tasks of the new body are appointing a new interim government and steering the country for a roughly one-year transition period, until fresh elections can be held on the basis of a new constitution.