DHAKA: Ruling Awami League lawmaker Saber Hossain Chowdhury was elected as the president of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) for the next three years on Wednesday in Geneva.

Saber Hossain Chowdhury got 169 votes while his nearest candidate Bronwyn Bishop MP, the Speaker of Parliament of Australia, got only 95 votes.

Parliament Secretariat confirmed the matter to banglanews.

This is for the first time, Bangladesh is elected as the president of IPU, an international organization of Parliaments.

Currently, there are 163 members of the IPU that was established in 1889.

On October 9, Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury was elected as the chairperson of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

BDST: 1925 HRS, OCT 16, 2014