Israel parliament begins to elect president

JERUSALEM: The Israeli parliament began electing a new head of state on Wednesday, with MPs called individually to walk behind a screen to cast their secret ballots for the nation's new president.   

Elder statesman Shimon Peres, former parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin and Labour party MP Colette Avital are competing for the largely ceremonial post to replace Moshe Katsav, who bows out facing a looming rape indictment.   

Voting got underway around 0915 GMT and is scheduled to last until 1100 GMT with the results due to be announced 30 minutes later.   

If no candidate wins a majority of 61 votes in the 120-member Knesset, a second round of voting will be held. In the repeated absence of the required 61 votes for one candidate, the two frontrunners will face off in a third round.   

The new president will be the candidate with the most ballots.