Nabih Berri re-elected as speaker for a sixth term

BEIRUT: Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri has been re-elected as Speaker of Parliament for the sixth time since 1992 with 98 votes in his favor, while 29 MPs cast a blank ballot and one that was annulled.

"I would like to give my deepest thanks to my fellow MPs for trusting me with the responsibility of heading this parliament for a sixth consecutive time," Berri said during his speech immediately following his re-election.

In an unexpected turn of event, first time MP Paula Yaacoubian disputed with officials’ reading of her vote, after her ballot, which had the name of Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki, was announced as a blank one.

“I insist that my ballot be annulled rather than be considered as a blank vote,” Yacoubian said loudly on the parliament floor.

Berri responded jokingly to Yaacoubian, saying: “I agree with my colleague Paula, however, there is no MP by the name of Labaki, that is a Labaki (Arabic for 'problem') nonetheless.”

Newly elected MPs had flooded downtown Beirut's Nejmeh square Wednesday morning heading to the Parliament for their inaugural session to elect a speaker and deputy speaker, in one of the country's initial stages of government formation following the recent parliamentary elections.

In parallel, MP Elie Ferzli, from President Michel Aoun Strong Lebanon's parliamentary bloc, has been elected as deputy speaker tallying 80 votes, while 30 votes were cast in favor of Lebanese Forces MP Anis Nassar, three votes for MP Nicolas Nahhas, one for MP Paula Yaacoubian; eight blank ballots were also cast alongside two annulled ones.

Ferzli enjoyed backing from his own FPM bloc of 29 members, while also backed by both Berri and Hezbollah’s blocs and their allies in Parliament.

However, MP and caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq had abstained from casting his ballot in the deputy speaker vote and left the session before the vote took place, without clarification.

Wednesday’s vote comes a day after the newly elected Parliament began its four-year mandate, as the previous body’s nine-year term came to an end at midnight Monday. 

MP Marwan Hamadeh and MP Alain Aoun were elected to the parliament's secretariat.