Libya Islamist Chief Won’t Concede Election Defeat

The head of Libya’s largest Islamist party refused on Wednesday to concede defeat in its first free election in almost half a century, accusing his main liberal rival of “tricking” voters with disingenuous commitments to Islam.

In an interview with Reuters, Mohammed Sawan, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, branded wartime prime minister Mahmoud Jibril as a former ally of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi and said that Jibril’s party could lose its lead once fuller results from Saturday’s vote trickle in.

While the Brotherhood ran a slick campaign for Saturday’s vote, like other Libyan parties it is new to democracy.

On a desk in an office in the party’s headquarters sat a stack of English-language how-to books. The titles: Winning Elections, Campaigning Bootcamp 2.0 and the Campaign Manager. All looked new and barely opened.

“Jibril did not present himself to the Libyan people as a liberal. He presented himself as having an Islamic reference,” Sawan said. “Secular currents benefited from the Arab Spring revolutions and raised the banner of Islamic reference… Libyans voted for Jibril as he was considered an Islamist too.”

Jibril’s National Forces Alliance (NFA) has extended an early lead in the landmark elections, according to incomplete tallies, benefiting from his prominence as one of the main figures in last year’s uprising to end Gaddafi’s 42-year rule.

Reuters