Ethiopia’s parliament on Monday elected Foreign Minister Taye Atske Selassie as the country’s president, an honorary position, succeeding Sahle-Work Zewde, whose term expires at the end of October.

Ethiopia’s president is officially the head of state, but his powers are symbolic and honorary. Most power is concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister.

Taye Atske Selassie, 68, succeeds Sahle-Worak Zewde, who in 2018 became the first woman to hold the position in the East African country.

After the vote, Speaker of Parliament Tagis Shafo announced that ‘Taye Atske Selassie has been elected as the new President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’, with only five abstentions.