A liberal alliance led by a former Libyan rebel prime minister said Sunday the party's unofficial preliminary results put it in the lead in the country's landmark parliamentary elections, the first since the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Faisal Krekshi, secretary general of the Alliance of National Forces led by Mahmoud Jibril, said the results were based on reports by party representatives at ballot counting centers across the vast desert nation. He provided no details, and the head of the election commission refused to confirm Krekshi's claims.

"We are all waiting and we have nothing to suggest that one party is ahead of others," election commission chief Nouri al-Abar told reporters. He also refused to set a date for announcing the full official results.

Libyans turned out en masse Saturday to cast their ballots for the 200-seat parliament. Eighty seats are set aside for party lists, while the remaining 120 are for individual independent candidates.

Officials from two other parties — the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party and the Islamist Al-Watan — said Jibril's alliance was the biggest winner in the race for the 80 party seats.

They based their statements on their own party representatives at polling centers. They did not provide a breakdown.

Their claims could not be verified.

With the majority of parliament's seats dedicated to individual candidates, even if Jibril's Alliance of National Forces were to claim the largest share of the party seats it is not guaranteed of being the dominant force in the legislature.

Jibril was a senior official and economist under Gadhafi's regime until he changed sides and joined the rebels after the uprising broke out, serving as the rebels' interim prime minister for almost eight months. Jibril himself could not run on the ballot because election laws prevent members of the interim National Transitional Council from running, but he serves as the leader of the coalition that brings together some 40 liberal parties.

The vote capped a chaotic transition that has exposed major fault lines in the country, ranging from the east-west divide to efforts by Islamists to assert power. It was a key milestone after a bitter civil war that ended Gadhafi's four-decade rule, and was the first time Libyans have voted for a parliament since 1964, five years before Gadhafi's military coup that toppled the monarchy.

But the desert nation of 6 million people has fallen into turmoil since Gadhafi was killed by rebel forces in his home city of Sirte in late October. Armed militias operate independently, refusing to be brought under the umbrella of a national army, and deepening regional and tribal divisions often devolve into bouts of violence.

Many people in eastern Libya resent what they perceive as a power grab by their rivals in the west. Some easterners boycotted Saturday's election in protest, and there was a spate of attacks on polling centers in the east that, in some cases, halted voting in some areas.

Al-Abar, the election commission chief, said preliminary figures showed 1.7 million of nearly 2.9 million eligible voters, or about 63 percent, cast their ballots Saturday. He also said that voters who were not able to cast their ballots for security reason were allowed to vote on Sunday.

President Barack Obama congratulated Libyans on the vote, calling it "another milestone on their extraordinary transition to democracy."

Across Libya, the vote was characterized by scenes of joy and a sense of triumph by Libyans emerging from more than four decades of repressive one-man rule under Gadhafi.

They stayed out celebrating on the streets well after polls closed at 8 p.m. Fireworks lit the Tripoli sky, motorists honked their horns and stores stayed open well past midnight.

There were also shouts of "Libya is free" by rebel fighters deployed throughout the capital in anticipation of any violence. They flashed fingers stained by the purple ink to show they had voted.

Libya’s political parties at a glance

The Justice and Construction Party

This is the main political arm of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, though party leaders have tried to distance themselves from the Brotherhood name by saying the party is only co-founded by some of the group's Islamists. High-level members of the party include non-Brotherhood people. The party is led by Mohammed Sawan, who spent eight years in prison under Gadhafi because of his affiliation with the Brotherhood. He is also a former member of the Brotherhood's top decision-making council in Libya. The party's leaders have also said that it is independent from other Brotherhood groups in the region, including in Egypt, where a Brotherhood candidate was recently sworn in as president. In its political platform, the party calls for "abiding by the principles of Islam" and believes that Islamic Sharia law should be the main source of legislation.

The Alliance of National Forces

The group is a liberal coalition of 40 political parties, 236 NGOs and 280 independent figures. The coalition is led by Mahmoud Jibril, who was a senior official and economist under Gadhafi's regime until he joined sides with the uprising, serving as the rebels' interim prime minister for almost eight months. He enjoys the support of one of the country's largest tribes, the Warfala. Jibril himself cannot run on the ballot because election laws prevent members of the interim National Transitional Council from running. In its political platform, the alliance states that Islamic Sharia law should be the main source of legislation, but adds that the state must respect all religions and sects, including religious rituals of foreigners living in Libya.

The Al Watan Party

The party was founded by ex-Jihadist and former rebel commander Abdel-Hakim Belhaj and ultraconservative Muslim leader Ali al-Salab, a leading figure among Libya's ultraconservative Salafis. Al-Salab is believed to be affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and helped mediate the release of Belhaj from prison a year before the revolution. Belhaj had been imprisoned under Gadhafi for being a leader of the militant Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which led an insurgency against Gadhafi's regime in the mid-1990s. Opponents say the party is partly funded by the Arab Gulf country of Qatar. Party members deny the accusation and say all their funding is from Libyans. The party's platform is very similar to that of the Justice and Construction party.

The Centrist National Party

A liberal party led by Ali Tarhouni, a former professor in the United States and later oil and finance minister under the transitional government who enjoys a good reputation for having had no ties to the Gadhafi regime. The party is one of the few whose platform makes no reference to Islamic Sharia law and only identifies Libya as a moderate Muslim country.

The National Front Party

The party is an offshoot of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, which included a mix of Islamists and secularists who were part of the armed opposition that for decades carried out assassination attempts against Gadhafi, including the famous 1984 attack on Bab al-Aziziyah, the late dictator's fortified compound in Tripoli. The regime cracked down on the group, executing and arresting many of its members. Many sought exile and worked in political activism against Gadhafi from abroad. The movement organised the first Libyan opposition conference abroad in London and called for toppling Gadhafi's regime several years ago. The party is headed by Mohammed al-Magarif, a well-respected Libyan nationalist and former opposition leader. The party sees Islam as a broad guideline to the state's affairs, but does not mention the implementation of Islamic Sharia law.