Libya's ruling national assembly picked Mohammed el-Megarif, leader of the National Front party, as its president on August 9, 2012 in Tripoli, in a vote carried out a day after it took power from the outgoing National Transitional Council.


Libya's newly formed national assembly elects former opposition leader Mohammed el-Megarif to become the country's interim president.

El-Megarif was a leading figure of the country's oldest opposition movement, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, which made several attempts to end Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year rule, sometimes by plotting assassination attacks.

El-Megarif won out in the early Friday vote over another opposition figure, Ali Zidan. Both had been former diplomats living in exile since the 1980s.

Until a new constitution is in place sometime next year, el-Megarif will hold the office replacing Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the outgoing transitional council, which was disbanded Wednesday when Abdul-Jalil handed power to the new assembly, which had been elected in July.