Baldwin Lonsdale was elected and sworn in as Vanuatu's new president on Monday, after eight rounds of voting, the longest in the South Pacific island country's history.

Lonsdale, a priest hailing from the northernmost Vanuatuan province of Torba, defeated 12 opponents with 46 votes out of a total of 58 votes by the electoral college, composed of 52 members of parliament and presidents of the country's six regional councils.

According to Vanuatu's constitution, a person must secure more than two-thirds of the electoral college's total votes in order to be elected as the country's president, otherwise another round of voting ensues.

In Vanuatu, a president's term is five years. Lonsdale's predecessor is Iolu Abbil, who was in office from Sept. 2, 2009 to Sept. 2, 2014. Endi

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