Hitto elected 'provisonal' prime minister of Syrian opposition

Hitto talks to the press. (Xinhua)

The opposition Syrian National Coalition chose Western-educated former businessman Ghassan Hitto as provisional prime minister in a vote on Tuesday at a meeting in Istanbul. Several senior coalition members, including tribal leader Ahmad Jarba and veteran opposition campaigners Walid al-Bunni and Kamal al-Labwani withdrew from the session before the vote to protest what they described as a hasty foreign-backed push to chose Hitto. Two eralier atamopts to elect a prime minister failed.
Hitto, who according to a Reuters witness received 35 votes of around 50 cast by coalition members, will be in charge of forming a government to fill a power vacuum in Syria arising from a two-year-long revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Hitto, who has a grade in computer science,  has been living in the US for a long time.