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Thursday March 28, 2024

New Lebanon parliament re-elects Hizbullah ally Berri as speaker

By AFP
May 24, 2018

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s new parliament on Wednesday elected veteran speaker and Hizbullah ally Nabih Berri to a sixth consecutive term, making him one of the longest-serving parliamentary heads in the world.

His election followed the country’s May 6 parliamentary poll, the first in nine years after the deeply divided legislature repeatedly extended its own term. On Wednesday, the body met for its inaugural session to elect its speaker to a four-year term.

Few 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 saw 98 of the parliament’s 128 members pick Berri. One vote was disqualified and the rest were blank.

Berri, 80, heads the Amal Movement. It and powerful movement Hizbullah hold all but one of the 27 seats in Lebanon’s parliament. Lebanon’s confessional system divides seats in parliament equally among Muslims and Christians, then further splits them among the various sects.

The speakership is reserved for a Muslim, while the other two top positions of prime minister and president go to a Sunni Muslim and Maronite Christian, respectively. Born in 1938, Berri rose to power as a militia boss in the civil war (1957-1990) before transitioning to politics.

He was simultaneously elected member and speaker of parliament in 1992. In his official role he calls and runs Lebanon’s parliamentary sessions. On Wednesday, parliamentarians submitted anonymous paper ballots which were then read out loud. Berri’s name was read 98 times, and "blank" was read 30 times.

First-time parliamentarian Paula Yaacoubian, a journalist who is close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri but ran as an independent, objected. She said she had voted for Lebanese director Nabine Labaki, who won the Jury prize at the Cannes film festival at the weekend, but her name was not read out. Yaacoubian’s vote was subsequently disqualified.

After his election Wednesday, Berri addressed legislators by saying "thank you" six times, in reference to his sixth term. He pledged bills on major legislative issues, notably on potential maritime oil and gas reserves. Beirut in February signed its first deal to drill in a pair of offshore zones, including one that is disputed between Lebanon and its southern neighbour Israel.