President of the House of Representatives USA, Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold the post, announced on Thursday that she is stepping down as Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives. Pelosi, 82, clarified that she will continue to represent San Francisco in Congress, as she has done for 35 years.

At the same time, the process of nominating a new leader of the Democrats to the House of Representatives began, the most dominant of which is Hakim Jeffreys. If he succeeds Pelosi, Jeffries will become the first African American to hold the post.

US President Joe Biden called Nancy Pelosi the greatest speaker of the House of Representatives in the history of the country.

Parliament is “sacred ground”.

Pelosi was cheered by Democratic lawmakers as she took her seat to announce her departure. Calling the chamber “sacred ground,” Pelosi recalled visiting the Capitol for the first time as a child, when her father was sworn in as a congressman.

She cited her work with three US presidents – Republican George W. Bush and Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden – “not counting” Republican Donald Trump, with whom she clashed on several occasions. But he recalled that Trump supporters launched an attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Magnificent but Fragile” US Democracy

“American democracy is great, but fragile. Many of us have seen firsthand how fragile she is, unfortunately, in this room. Therefore, democracy must always be protected from the forces that want to harm it,” he stressed.

Since the US midterm elections, Democrats have retained control of the Senate. However, control of the House of Representatives has passed to the Republicans, albeit with a narrow majority, which means that the work of the Biden administration will be hampered in the next two years.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters, AFP.}