Nabih Berri, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament for the seventh time

The new Lebanese Parliament elected veteran politician Nabih Berri for the seventh time in a row as Speaker of Parliament in its first session today, Tuesday.

Berri, 84, won in the first round of voting 65 votes in the 128-member parliament.

Berri obtained the required majority, which is half plus one, and this is the lowest number of votes ever, which reflects the changes in the new parliament, where Hezbollah and its allies lost the majority they won in 2018. Berri was elected that year as president The House of Representatives by 98 votes.

Berri, who leads the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, has held this position since 1992.

Today's session is the first since the election of the new parliament on May 15, in the first vote since the country's economic collapse and the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut in 2020.

About a dozen newcomer opposition deputies took their seats for the first time in parliament, including some who participated in the protest movement.

According to the result, 23 deputies voted with a white paper and 40 votes were considered null and their owners wrote phrases including "justice for the bombing of the port of Beirut."

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