Nauru's President Ludwig Scotty has retained the presidency, defeating the opposition nominee in the parliament.
Scotty defeated Marcus Steven, a Commonwealth Games gold- winning weightlifter, 14 to 3 when the parliament elected at the weekend met for the first time Tuesday, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio reported Wednesday.
Scotty thanked the people of Nauru for giving him, and what he called "his young group" their confidence and another mandate to continue pursuing progress for Nauru.
He has named an unchanged six-member cabinet.
In the national elections held at the weekend, Scotty and his supporters increased their hold from 11 to 15 seats in the 18-seat parliament.
The president had campaigned for endorsement of a 20-year redevelopment strategy after coming to power in 2004 with the Nauru economy in tatters.
The collapse of the phosphate industry has reduced what was one of the world's richest countries per capita in the 1990s to being almost entirely dependent on foreign aid.
Source: Xinhua
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