Libya\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s national assembly has elected Nouri Abusahmen as its new president, the first member of the Berber minority to hold high office.\n<\/p>\n
Abusahmen, an independent member of the General National Congress (GNC), won 96 votes out of the 184 cast in the assembly\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s second round of polling, during the GNC session on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
He defeated another independent, Al-Sherif al-Wafi, who had received 80 of the ballots.\n<\/p>\n
Abusahmen, from the western coastal town of Zuwara, received the most support from the Muslim Brotherhood\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s political arm, the Justice and Construction Party.\n<\/p>\n
The newly elected national assembly president replaces Muhammad al-Magarief, who was forced to resign in May under a new law that prevents those who served during the rule of Slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi from holding political posts.\n<\/p>\n
Magarief was Libya\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s ambassador to India for two years in the 1980s before leaving Gaddafi\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s government.\n<\/p>\n
Abusahmen is expected to play a key role in the formation of a new constitution.\n<\/p>\n
During Gaddafi\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s dictatorship, the rights of Berbers, who make up 10 percent of the country\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s population, were denied.\n<\/p>\n
Libyans rose up against Gaddafi\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s four-decade rule in February 2011 and deposed him in August 2011. He was slain on October 20 of the same year.\n<\/p>\n
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