Cairo: A former top judge has been elected as head of Egypt’s lower house of parliament at the first meeting of the recently elected assembly.
Hanfi Al Jebeili, an ex-chief judge of the Supreme Constitutional Court, won the majority of votes at the 569-strong House of Representatives. He got 508 votes in favour.
Al Jebeili, 71, was mainly backed by the Mostqbal Watan (The Nation’s Future) Party, which won the majority of the seats in Egypt's legislative elections held in two stages late last year. He outrivaled three others contenders for the post.
Al Jebeili succeeds Ali Abdul Aal, a law professor, who headed the previous house.
The new assembly Tuesday held a lengthy procedural session that ran into the night during which its members took the constitutional oath for a five-year mandate.
Well-known businessman Mohammed Abul Enein and MP Ahmed Saad Eddin were also elected as the speaker’s deputies at the Tuesday session.