Lebanon parliament re-elects Berri as speaker

Shia politician Nabih Berri, a close ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, was re-elected for a sixth term as speaker of Lebanon’s parliament in an uncontested vote today, Reuters reported.

Another Hezbollah ally, Elie Ferzli, was elected deputy speaker.

Hezbollah and its allies won at least 70 of parliament’s 128 seats in a 6 May election. The result was a reversal of Lebanon’s last general election in 2009, when anti-Hezbollah groups won a majority.

Berri won the votes of 98 of 128 MPs. After being reappointed as speaker, a role he has held since 1992, he called for a new government to be formed as soon as possible.

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Saad Hariri, who headed the outgoing cabinet, is expected to be premier again and faces tough negotiations to form a coalition government including all the main parties. He will lead a caretaker government until the new cabinet is agreed.

Berri, 80, heads the Amal Movement and has been allied with Hezbollah since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

Hariri, an opponent of Hezbollah, had declared support for the re-election of Berri as speaker, a post reserved for Shias in Lebanon’s sectarian power sharing system.