Political
On 6 August a National Transitional Council (NTC) representative stated that the official hand over of power to the newly elected assembly would occur on Wednesday 8 August. The ceremonial handover will take place at the Ghabet Al Nasser Convention Center next to the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli. The new 200 member legislative assembly comprising party and independent representatives will lead the country until fresh elections can be held on the basis of a new constitution.
Mahmud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance (NFA) took 39 seats of the 80 seats allocated to political parties; the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction Party (JCP) gained only seventeen. The main political parties are still working to garner the support of independently elected members who hold the other 120 seats. Among the independents were candidates who were fielded by the NFA and JCP without using their party names; but the majority had no official political affiliation. While the independent members certainly hold the key to forming a ruling bloc in the new assembly, many are likely to align themselves on ethnic and regional lines. It appears highly likely that Jibril’s NFA will be supported by a sizable majority of independents.
Tripolitania and Tripoli
The last seven days has seen several incidents reported in the Tripoli area amidst concerns of a deterioration of security in the capital. On 4 August, a gunfight occurred between youths competing for space in a market in the Al Rashid neighborhood near Martyrs’ Square. The most significant event however was a car bomb which detonated near a military police headquarters in downtown Tripoli on 4 August. The blast occurred near the Burqiba Mosque near to a main bus and taxi terminal near Bab Al-Jadid, the western gate of the Old City. This attack is the first reported car bomb in the capital since the fall of the previous regime. Unconfirmed reports attributed the attack to Islamist groups which have been most evident in Benghazi and the east of the country.
Outside of the capital, Libyan media reported that two people were killed and five wounded during armed clashes on 1 August in the Abi Aissi area, west of Zawiyah, 50km west of the capital. The clashes ended following the intervention of the Shield of Libya Brigade.