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Democrats in the US House of Representatives officially elected Representative Nancy Pelosi of California on Thursday as speaker-designate, to succeed Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois when the new Congress convenes in January next year.

Pelosi would become the first woman House speaker in the US history, the second in line of succession to the presidency, behind only the vice president.

She would assume the speakership when the 110th Congress convenes and formally elects her to the position in early January 2007.

Pelosi, who was born in March 1940 and has been House minority leader of the 119th Congress, was first elected to the House from the 8th district of California in 1987.

Also on Thursday, House Democrats elected Representative Steny Hoyer from Maryland, currently the House minority whip, as majority leader for the new Congress, rejecting Pelosi's choice, John Murtha of Pennsylvania.

Hoyer, 67, won the No. 2 party post in the House by a vote of 149-86.

Pelosi said after the election that she was looking forward to working with Hoyer "in a very unified way to bring our country to a new direction for all Americans."

On Murtha, her long-time ally, Pelosi extended thanks to him for "his courage in stepping forward one year ago to speak truth to power, to change the debate in this country in a way that I think gave us this majority in this November."

Murtha, 74, demanded an immediate pullout of US troops from Iraq last year, sparking a fierce debate in Washington over the Bush administration's Iraq policy.

Democrats won control of both chambers of the legislature in last week's elections, largely due to American voters' anger over the lack of progress in Iraq and dissatisfaction with Bush's Iraq policy.

"Nancy asked me to set a policy for the Democratic Party. Most of the party signed onto it," he said after the vote.

"I didn't have enough votes and so I'll go back to my small subcommittee I have on appropriations," said Murtha, who would become chairman of the House Defense Appropriation Subcommittee.

Republicans in the US Senate on Wednesday elected Mitch McConnel as the Senator minority leader and Trent Lott as the minority whip for the new Congress, one day after Democrats selected Harry Reid as the Senate majority leader and Richard Durbin as the majority whip on Tuesday.

House Republicans, who would become the minority party in the new Congress, would elect their leadership team on Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2006)