Boehner reelected speaker of US congress for 3rd term

Republican politician, John Boehner, has been reelected as speaker of the United States (US) house of representatives.

The election, which held on the first day of the new chamber’s session, saw Boehner poll 216 votes ahead of Nancy Pelosi, a democrat, who polled 164, with 28 other votes going to other candidates.

Surprisingly, 24 republicans did not vote for Boehner, who is considered the party’s favourite.

However, democrats did not have the division problem, as they overwhelmingly supported Nancy Pelosi, though some however threw their weight behind Colin Powell, former secretary of state.

Other democrat votes went in favour of Jim Cooper, Pete DeFazio, and John Lewis, while some other democrats chose to be absent at the voting exercise to attend the funeral of former New York governor, Mario Cuomo.

Boehner, who needed a minimum of 205 of the 408 votes cast, had 11 more than necessary to clinch the seat for a third time.

Earlier on Tuesday, 72-year-old Mitch McConnell, another republican, became the majority leader of the US senate, keeping both senate and house of representatives in the hands of the Republican Party ahead of the 2016 general election in the country.