TEHRAN A man who heads the Amal Movement and once fought the Zionist occupation of South Lebanon, was re-elected Parliament speaker for a third consecutive term on Monday.
Berri, the sole candidate for the post, won 124 votes, with two blanks, from the 126 MPs present at the inaugural session of Lebanon's new 128-member Parliament.
Berri, 62, was expected to head immediately for a protocol visit to President Emile Lahoud who will likely start binding parliamentary consultations Wednesday to name a new prime minister.
Prime Minister Selim Hoss, whose government was formed in December 1998, should have resigned as soon as the new Parliament convened, but Lahoud asked him on Monday to take care of remaining business.
Also on Monday and in line with tradition, the oldest member of the Parliament, 89-year-old Christian maronite Kabalan Issa al-Khoury, inaugurated the session in a brief speech, AFP reported.
Issa al-Khoury asked the house to observe a minute of silence for the victims of South Lebanon, which was freed from 22 years of Israeli occupation on May 24, and the Palestinian Intifada uprising against Zionists.
He was aided by the youngest newly-elected deputies, Emile Emile Lahoud, the 25-year-old son of President Emile Lahoud, and Pierre Gemayel, the 28-year-old son of former president Amin Gemayel.
Berri rose to the leadership of the Shiite Amal Movement in 1980, two years after the charismatic head of the group Sheikh Musa Sadr dissappeared in mysterious circomstances on a trip to Libya.
Berri along with the activist Shiite Hezbollah, led a fierce resistance war against Zionist troops until the end of the occupation of Southern Lebanon.