Pelosi suffers major blow to authority from colleagues

Washington: Nancy Pelosi, the new Democrat Speaker of the House of Representatives, suffered a major political defeat on Thursday when her anointed candidate to be her deputy was overwhelmingly ruled out by congressional colleagues.

The rejection of Congressman John Murtha, a vociferously anti-war former US marine and Vietnam veteran, in favour of Congressman Steny Hoyer, a long-time adversary of Pelosi, was a significant blow to the new Speaker's authority.

Some Democrats said the setback would damage Pelosi's ability to forge consensus within the party, would weaken her when bargaining with President George W. Bush and undermined their victory in last week's mid-term elections, where they seized control of both houses of congress from the Republicans.

Pelosi, elected on Thursday to be the country's first female Speaker, had urged colleagues to vote for Mr Murtha, 74. But 149 Democrats voted against him and just 86 for.

Murtha's opponents objected to his alleged involvement in corruption and some felt uncomfortable about his strident calls for troops to be pulled out of Iraq.