Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid was unanimously dismissed Monday by a special session of parliament which then installed Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri in his place.

Megawati was named Indonesia's fifth president in a nationally televised session boycotted by Wahid, who remained in the Merdeka state palace and vowed to dig in there.

The delegates rose to their feet amid shouts of "Allah is Great" after Megawati was declared the new leader of the world's largest Islamic-majority nation.

The national assembly (MPR), parliament's upper house, quickly achieved the majority needed to oust Wahid, who had declared the session unconstitutional and refused to attend.

Shortly after the necessary majority was reached, but before the completion of the vote, the session was interrupted by a motion from the floor seeking a re-reading of the parliamentary decree effectively dismissing Wahid.

But by the time the interruption came, a total of 344 votes to oust Wahid had been cast. There were 598 delegates present out of the 695 MPR members.

A repeat vote affirmed the results of the first round. The assembly agreed after the interruption that the second vote would also decide on a motion to appoint Megawati as president.

The final tally was unanimous, with the 592 delegates who stayed for the second round all voting for the change in leadership, with not one against.

Before the vote, faction after faction demanded the 60-year-old Wahid's removal and the installation of Megawati, 54, as president.

The delegates were voting on a parliamentary decree calling for the dismissal of Wahid, who had refused to give a formal accounting of his administration as demanded by parliament over the weekend.

There was no immediate reaction from Wahid but aides said he was determined to stay at the heavily-guarded Merdeka state palace despite the widely-expected vote to oust him.

(Chinadaily.com.cn 07/23/2001)