Libyan lawmakers elect new prime minister

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By NBC News wire servicesUpdated at 5:23 p.m. ET: Libya's national assembly on Sunday elected a former congressman and diplomat as the country's new prime minister.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld Ali Zidan, who resigned as a congressman to run as a candidate in the election, won 93 votes, securing him a majority from those present in voting.


Zidan was a diplomat under Moammar Gadhafi before defecting in the 1980s and joining Libya's oldest opposition movement, National Front for the Salvation of Libya, from Geneva where he resided.

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The 200-member General National Congress selected the new prime minister following last week's dismissal of Mustafa Abushagur after just 25 days in the post for failing to form a government acceptable to the national assembly. Zidan had previously run against Abushagur and lost.

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