Pro-Islamist Mohamed al-Megaryef elected as Libya assembly chief

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya's new national assembly late on Thursday elected as its president Mohamed al-Megaryef, a staunch opponent of Muammar Gaddafi's overthrown regime who is seen as being pro-Islamist.

Mr Megaryef, who had led the Libyan National Salvation Front that grouped exiled opponents of Gaddafi, won with 113 votes in the General National Congress (GNC) against liberal independent Ali Zidane, who got 85.

Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) on Wednesday handed power to the new assembly, elected July 7, in a symbolic move marking a peaceful transition after the overthrow of Gaddafi's 40-year dictatorship in last year's uprising.

Mr Megaryef, born in 1940 in the eastern city of Benghazi, was elected to the GNC under the flag of his grouping, renamed the National Front Party. The poll for leadership of the new congress was broadcast live on Libyan television.