Lebanon's new parliament on Wednesday (May 23rd) elected veteran speaker Nabih Berri to a sixth consecutive term, making him one of the longest-serving parliamentary heads in the world, AFP reported.
His election came after the country's May 6th parliamentary poll, the first in nine years after the deeply divided legislature, elected in 2009, repeatedly extended its own term.
On Wednesday, the body met for the first time since the poll, to elect its speaker to a four-year term.
The vote by paper ballot saw 98 of the parliament's 128 members pick Berri, 80, who heads the Amal movement. One vote was disqualified and the rest were blank.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun is now set to consult the newly-elected body to name the country's next prime minister.
The Future Movement's Saad Hariri is expected to return for another term in that role, his third in that role.
