US lower house elects Nancy Pelosi, first female leader
Washington (dpa) - US lawmakers Thursday elected Nancy Pelosi, a left-leaning lawmaker from California, to be the first female speaker of the House of Representatives as the Democratic Party took control of Congress from President George W Bush's Republicans.
Democrats who won November legislative elections chose Pelosi, 66, for the nation's third-highest public office, marking the high point of swearing-in ceremonies in the newly seated 435-seat House and the 100-member Senate.
Giddily savouring their return to control in both houses, Democrats shouted Pelosi's name as they were called up in turn to voice their vote at the Capitol building in Washington.
Cheers and applause broke out during the vote and at least one lawmaker briefly danced at her seat. Pelosi defeated outgoing House majority leader John Boehner, whom Republicans fielded as a symbolic opponent.
In an afternoon of time-honoured political ritual, all members of the new Democratic-led House were to be sworn in later Thursday.
Earlier, a new Democratic majority was sworn into office in the Senate.
US Vice President Dick Cheney administered the oath of office to the 33 senators newly elected in November, when US voters lifted the Democrats into power in both chambers of Congress for the first time in 12 years. // © 2006 DPA
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