Meles Zenawi has been re-elected as Prime Minister of Ethiopia, for a third five-year term at the inaugural meeting of the House of Peoples Representatives. A new Speaker and Deputy Speaker were also elected. The House, which sat today for the first time since the national and local elections on 15^th May, will reconvene its session tomorrow morning.

Parliamentarians endorsed Meles Zenawi with a show of hands, after which he took an oath of office during the formal inauguration ceremony. The Prime Minister is to announce the members of his new cabinet, the Council of Ministers, on Tuesday.

The House also elected Teshome Toga, the former Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport as the new Speaker, and Shitaye Minale as Deputy Speaker, the first time a woman has held the post.

The opening session was attended by all members of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (the EPRDF) - who won the election with 327 seats - forty-four members of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) and six members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD).  The session was held in the presence of foreign dignitaries, religious leaders and other invited guests.

Meanwhile, the inaugural session of the House of Federation, which opened this afternoon, has seen elections held for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, with Degife Bula and Mohammed Siree being elected respectively.

ENDS