LIBYA. Mahmoud Jibril, head of the political alliance some Libyan media predict is the leading party in Saturday’s parliamentary general election, said Sunday he favored working in a coalition government.

“We extend an invitation, continued as before, to other political forces to come together in one coalition under one banner,” Jibril, leader of the National Forces Alliance, said in a press conference at the group’s election office in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. “This is a sincere call for all political parties to come together.”

He dismissed speculation that his party was in the leading the election, in which 80 of 200 seats in the National Congress are reserved for party lists and 120 for individual candidates.

“They say in the media that we said we won,” Jibril said. “We did not. We are still silent and confident in the clear results that will come out.”

The Alliance, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction party, were both expected to be front-runners in the election, the first held in Libya since 1964.

Jibril, a former economics minister during the regime of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi who was prime minister last year under the rebel National Transitional Council, is seen as favoring a more moderate strand of Islam to the Justice and Construction Party.

Speaking in both Arabic and English, Jibril said he occupied the political center. “Some media channels started referring to the National Forces Alliance as liberals -- that’s not true,” he said. The party is “composed of different political formations.”

Libya’s High National Elections Commission said Sunday it expects to announce first results of the vote on Monday, with final results scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

An appeals process will be available for challenges before a final result is declared. The new parliament, the 200-seat National Congress, is due to meet after this final declaration in a converted conference hall in Tripoli.

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