Lebanon’s Parliament reelects Berri as speaker for 7th time

By BASSEM MROUE and ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s longtime parliament speaker who has held the post for 30 years has been reelected for a seventh four-year term by a slim majority. Nabih Berri’s reelection on Tuesday was practically guaranteed, despite more than a dozen new lawmakers who won seats running on a reform platform. The new legislature is being ushered in as Lebanon remains in the grip of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the ruling class, which has been running the country since the end of the civil war. To most Lebanese, the 84-year-old Berri is a symbol of this entrenched sectarian-based political system and ruling class.