Libya's transitional council has peacefully handed over power to the country's first elected assembly.

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the transitional council, handed power to the elected body's eldest member, Mohammed Ali Salim, in a ceremony in a Tripoli hotel late Wednesday.

Jalil said the elected body, named the General National Congress, is from now on the “legitimate representative of the Libyan people.”

The elected body is composed of 120 independent seats and 80 party seats. The liberal coalition of wartime prime minister Mahmoud Jibril performed best in last month's elections, securing 39 seats.

The 200-member Congress must now name a new chairman and steer Libya to full parliamentary elections after a new constitution is drafted.