By ie Consultancy.
As Libyans await the announcement of the new Prime Minister on the 12th September, we expect to see a new government take office by mid-October.
Following the ratification of results from Libya's first elections held in July, the National Transitional Council (NTC) officially handed over power to the newly elected 200 member General National Congress (GNC) on 8th August 2012. The GNC's membership consists of 120 independent members and 80 members elected as representatives of political parties or associations.
Of the 80 party seats, 39 were won by the National Forces Alliance (NFA) (a coalition of political parties led by former NTC Prime Minister Mahmoud Jabril) with 17 going to the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Reconstruction Party.
The allegiance of the independent members, who are being considered by many as the ‘King makers’; will have a significant impact on the political landscape. The wording of the election laws, which allowed candidates to run as individuals rather than specifying that they be independent (i.e. not members of a political party or association), meant that many independent candidates were in fact party members.
This applies to at least 60 of the 120 independents, many of which support the Justice and Reconstruction Party and smaller Islamist Parties, narrowing the gap which opened up between the NFA and J&C in the Party seats. It is likely that many Independent candidates will be recruited by Parties in the coming weeks and months.
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