Lebanon’s new parliament elects veteran speaker Nabih Berri to a sixth consecutive term, making him one of the longest-serving parliamentary heads in the world.
His election comes after the country’s May 6 parliamentary poll, the first in nine years after the deeply divided legislature, elected in 2009, repeatedly extended its own term.
The body is meeting for the first time since the poll, to elect its speaker to a four-year term.
Few had expected any surprises: the only candidate was incumbent Berri, a savvy politician from the country’s south who has held the position since 1992.
The vote by paper ballot had seen 98 of the parliament’s 128 members pick Berri. One vote had been disqualified and the rest had been blank.
Berri, 80, heads the Amal Movement and is a close ally of the powerful Shiite terror group Hezbollah.
— AFP
In this file photo taken on October 31, 2016, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri addresses a parliamentary session in the capital Beirut. (AFP PHOTO / POOL / JOSEPH EID)
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