Libya's interim leadership chose on Monday an electronics engineer from Tripoli as the country's interim prime minister. Abdel Rahim al-Keeb, a Tripoli academic, was elected by the 51-member National Transitional Council (NTC) and will appoint a new cabinet in the coming days. Former Interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril fulfilled a promise to resign after Libya was declared officially "liberated" after the fall of Muammar Qadhafi's hometown Sirte and his subsequent killing. The NTC has promised to hold elections in eight months for a national assembly, which will spend a year drawing up a new constitution before parliamentary elections are conducted. The new government is to run Libya in the coming months and pave the way for general elections. Jalal al-Gallal, an NTC spokesman, said Keeb received 26 votes from the transitional council. The NTC wanted to form a new interim government after the fall of Qadhafi because it had started out as an impromptu group, Gallal added.
