Libyan delegates at UN-led talks outside Geneva on Friday made the surprise choice of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah as prime minister of a transitional unity government to take the war-ravaged country through to elections in December.
He was chosen along with a three-member presidency council to head a unity administration and steer the North African state towards the ballot box on December 24.
Dbeibah, a Canadian-trained engineer from the city of Misrata and founder of the Libya al-Mostakbal (Libya of the Future) movement, previously led the Libyan Investment and Development Company under dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
The vote is part of a complex UN-led process aiming to build on a fragile ceasefire and end more than a decade of conflict.
Oil-rich Libya has been torn by civil war since a NATO-backed uprising led to the toppling and killing of Kadhafi in 2011.
Acting UN envoy Stephanie Williams, who facilitated the week-long talks outside Geneva, said she was "pleased to witness this historic moment".
"The importance of the decision that you have taken here today will grow with the passage of time in the collective memory of the Libyan people," she said after the vote.
Moscow, which has played a key role in Libya, wished the new leaders well.
"We hope the new Libyan authorities successfully solve all the difficult tasks of the transition period," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.
Libya has been split between a Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, and the eastern-based House of Representatives, backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar in 2019 launched a months-long campaign to seize Tripoli from pro-GNA forces, but was pushed back eastwards last year, leading to an October ceasefire and renewed political efforts for more permanent peace.
On Friday the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, comprised of 75 participants selected by the UN to represent a broad cross-section of society, chose between proposed line-ups for the four leadership positions: prime minister and three presidency council members, each representing one of Libya's three main regions.
East Libyan diplomat Mohammad Younes Menfi, a former ambassador expelled from Greece in December 2019 as Athens protested against an agreement struck between the GNA and Turkey, will head the council.
His deputies will be Moussa Al-Koni, a Touareg from Libya's south, and Abdallah Hussein Al-Lafi, from the western city of Zuwara.
And in the final run-off, Dbeibah's list beat that of Fathi Bashagha, the GNA's powerful interior minister, by 39 votes to 34.
Bashagha congratulated the winning list, saying the vote had "embodied democracy in its clearest form", while GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj wished them "success in their mission".
Key powerbroker Aguila Saleh, the speaker of the Haftar-allied parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk, was not elected to the transitional council.
Saleh on Friday said he "welcomes the victory of the Libyan people" with the formation of the new government.
Analyst Wolfram Lacher, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), warned that Dbeibah was a "controversial figure" and that "if this government becomes operational at all, its reach is likely to remain very limited".
"The new executive will have very little traction, if at all, in the east," he said.
Even if the appointments are a step forward in the political process, the new executive will quickly have to assert its legitimacy among myriad local political actors, some of whom have already distanced themselves from the Geneva talks.
It will also face the fact that multiple foreign forces still have a presence on Libyan soil.
GNA prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj, appointed at the end of a previous UN process in 2015, was in office for several months before he could even reach Tripoli by sea from Tunisia, due to security concerns.
He has since gradually won the support of many militias, especially in the capital, but never managed to impose his authority across the divided country.
All the prime ministerial candidates gave written pledges committing to an agreed roadmap towards holding national elections on December 24, and to respecting the results of that vote.
For transparency, the entire voting process was broadcast live by the UN.
The world body says the transitional council will be tasked with "reuniting state institutions and ensuring security" until the elections.
The fragile October ceasefire agreed in Geneva has largely held, despite threats by Haftar to resume fighting.
The UN Security Council on Thursday instructed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to deploy ceasefire monitors to Libya.
Haftar has received backing from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, which has reportedly deployed mercenaries from a private group with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The GNA is supported by Turkey, which has provided crucial firepower and sent Syrian rebels to fight Haftar's forces.
Turkey said "the opportunity" provided by the decision would help ensure "the territorial integrity and the political unity" of Libya, while Egypt said it "looks forward" to working with the new officials.
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