The new Lebanese parliament formed following the parliamentary election on June 7 re-elected Thursday Shiite Nabih Berri as speaker for a fifth consecutive term, LBC TV reported.

The newly-elected 128-seat parliament's 127 members cast their ballots. They gave 90 votes for Berri, while 28 cast blank ballots and the rest voted for two other Shiite lawmakers, Abbas Hashim and Okab Saker.

The lawmakers who gave blank ballots were protesting the re-election of Berri who failed to provide guarantee that he would not to close down the parliament.

Berri suspended the parliament during a 18-month political crisis that crippled the country before an agreement between the Western-backed ruling majority and the opposition led by Shiite militant group Hezbollah was reached in Doha in May 2008.

Berri is to hold the post for another four years. The opposition Shiite leader, who is the strongest ally of Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah, first assumed the post in November 1992.

Majority leader Saad Hariri's parliamentary bloc voted for Berri, along with the opposition lawmakers.

Sunni Majority leader Saad Hariri said Wednesday night after a meeting with Berri that he supports re-electing Berri for the fifth time.

"We want Berri as speaker, without preconditions," Hariri told reporters.

Druze majority leader Walid Jumblatt also favored the re-election of Berri, while many pro-government Christian lawmakers cast the blank papers.

Source: Xinhua