Lebanon Re-elects Nabih Berri as Speaker for Seventh Term

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanese lawmakers re-elected Nabih Berri as parliament speaker Tuesday for a seventh consecutive term.

Aged 84, Berri clinched a new four-year term during parliament's opening session on Tuesday with the votes of 65 of the parliament's 128 members.

Berri will preside over a deeply fragmented parliament prone to the kind of deadlock that has paralyzed Lebanese politics for decades.

Lawmakers will be called upon to push through long-overdue reforms to stem a financial crisis that has plunged most Lebanese into poverty.