CAIRO, June 24 (UPI) -- Egyptian Information Minister Safwat Sharif was elected Thursday president of the Shura, or consultative, council in the country's bi-cameral parliament.
Sharif, 70, won 241 votes in the 244-seat council while his only competitor, Osama Shaltout from the opposition Social Solidarity Party got the remaining three.
The ruling National Democratic Party's parliamentary committee approved unanimously Sharif's candidacy to the new post Wednesday at the request of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is undergoing medical treatment for back problem in Germany.
Sharif is expected to submit his resignation shortly from the post of information minister, which he has held since 1972, making him the longest-serving minister under Mubarak's regime.
Culture Minister Farouk Hosni was appointed by Mubarak to handle the duties of the information minister temporarily.
