According to the latest reports, the Democrats managed to secure for themselves 218 seats as a minimum. This is exactly the number of seats they needed for proclaiming a victory.

Nancy Pelosi, 66, will become a new speaker of the House of Representatives. She is sure to get the post after the Tuesday elections to the Congress. At present she is the leader of the Democratic faction in the lower chamber of the Congress, and she does not seem to have serious rivals. The problem of the new speaker is expected to be settled at the next meeting of the faction.

The victory of the democrats gives them the right to nominate their candidates to the post of the speaker, who is the third most important person in the U.S. hierarchy after the president and the vice president, as well as to the posts of heads of the house committees. Besides, they get the opportunity to draw up the law-making agenda of the Congress for the coming two years. Unless some unexpected developments take place, Nancy Pelosi will become the first lady speaker of the House of Representatives in the history of the U.S. Congress.

Nancy Pelosi is regarded as a representative of the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party. She usually displays strong will and determination, when defending her political views.

Mrs. Pelosi comes from the family of Italian descent, which produced many prominent politicians. Her father Tomas Dallesandro was the mayor of Baltimore for a long time, after which he represented the State of Maryland in the House of Representatives for ten years. Her brother Tomas Dallesandro 3rd also held the post of the mayor of Baltimore. Mrs. Pelosi was first elected to the Congress from California in 1987 and has engaged in politics ever since. Two years ago she became the first woman in the U.S. history to lead a political faction in the chief legislative body of the country.

Nancy Pelosi is married to Paul Pelosi, a millionaire from San Francisco. They have five children and as many grandchildren. Itar-Tass