PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Independent peer Baroness D'Souza has been elected for a five-year term as Lord Speaker.
Peers voted last week for a successor to Baroness Hayman, who was chosen as the first holder of the post in 2006 and will step down at the end of August.
Lady D'Souza, 67, an academic, was made a life peer in 2004 and has been the convener of the 180-strong group of independent crossbench peers since 2007.
The position of Lord Speaker, which was established following then prime minister Tony Blair's reforms to the role of Lord Chancellor, is more ceremonial than the House of Commons equivalent.
The House of Lords operates under a system of "self-regulation", so the Lord Speaker has no power to choose which members speak or to organise business.
Lady D'Souza was one of six candidates for the £101,038-a-year post, along with Conservatives Lord Goodlad and Lord Colwyn, Liberal Democrats Baroness Harris of Richmond and Lord Redesdale, and Labour's Lord Desai.
Under the alternative vote system, she beat Lord Colwyn, who has served as a deputy speaker, by 296 votes to 285 after four transfers of votes.
She received 186 first-preference votes to Lord Colwyn's 166, Lord Goodlad's 145, Lord Desai's 78, Lady Harris's 62 and Lord Redesdale's seven.
There were 644 valid votes out of the 770 members of the House eligible to take part in the contest.
After the result was announced, Lady Hayman told peers: "Baroness D'Souza has been an effective and a distinguished convener of the crossbench peers and I am certain she will be an effective and distinguished Lord Speaker."