ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the major opposition party in Ethiopia which won the May 15 parliamentary election in the capital Addis Ababa, elected on Saturday Berhanu Nega as mayor of the city.

    The new city council also elected Admasu Gebeyehu deputy mayor and Assefa Haile-wold as speaker and Shewaye Kiros as deputy speaker of the council.

    The members of the council held the election through a five-member electoral committee.

    The new city council will take over power from the incumbent administration in the coming September.

    At a ceremony, Berhanu told journalists that he would devote his expertise and know-how for the development of the city in the next five years.

    The recruitment of professionals that will serve in the city administration will be undertaken extensively in the next few weeks, he said.

    In the May 15 parliamentary election, the CUD secured almost all the 23 seats of Addis Ababa, as the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) got nothing in the capital.

    Addis Ababa is CUD's major stronghold, in which university students, trade dealers and young people back the opposition party.

    Since the ruling EPRDF party came to power in 1991, it has kept the mayorship of Addis Ababa for almost 14 years. Enditem