Libya’s National Transitional Council, which has ruled the country since last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, on Wednesday handed power to the new assembly.

Megarief a former diplomat who had lived in exile since the 1980s and led the Libyan National Salvation Front, , won with 113 votes in the General National Congress against liberal independent Ali Zidane, who got 85.

Crowds in central Tripoli celebrated after the handover, which was the first peaceful transition of power in Libya’s modern history since Gaddafi’s 4 decade rule.

Magarief, will head the 200-member congress, which is tasked with will naming a prime minister and passing laws until full parliamentary elections can be held under a new constitution.

The assembly was also set to pick two deputies for Magarief, who had been seen as a leading contender for the top job.

The peaceful transition came as a car bomb exploded near the offices of the military police in Tripoli in the early hours Saturday, in the first such attack in the Libyan capital since the start of a revolt that toppled the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Several violent incidents have rocked Libya in recent days Libya but these have been mostly confined to the eastern part of the country and included offices of military intelligence and the assassination of a former senior military officer, according to Reuters. 

In the new assembly, 80 seats are held by parties. A liberal coalition led by wartime rebel prime minister Mahmoud Jibril won 39 of those seats, while the Justice and Construction Party – the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood – won 17, according to Al Jazeera, while the remaining 120 seats are in the hands of independent candidates whose allegiances are hard to pin down.