Libya’s Transitional National Council (NTC) has chosen Abdurrahim El Keib as the country’s new interim prime minister to replace Mahmoud Jibril.

"This transition period has its own challenges. One thing we will be doing is working very closely with the NTC and listening to the Libyan people," El Keib said on Monday after his appointment was determined by members of the transitional council.

"We salute and remember the revolutionaries who we will never forget. We will not forget their families. I say to them that the NTC did not and will not forget them and also the coming government will do the same," he added.

El Keib, an electrical engineer and professor at the university of Tripoli, garnered 26 votes out of the total of 51 votes, and said that he expected to choose his cabinet ministers within two weeks.

"We said we would (elect a cabinet) a month from the liberation. We have two weeks left and we intend to meet that deadline," he said.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the NTC chairman, did not run, while former interim PM Jibril fulfilled a promise to resign after Libya was declared officially "liberated" after the fall of Gaddafi's hometown Sirte.

The NTC has promised to hold elections after eight months for a national assembly that will spend a year drawing up a new constitution before a parliamentary poll.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies