Egyptian journalists elected Friday political researcher and journalist Diaa Rashwan, head of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, as new chairman of the country's Journalists' Syndicate.

Rashwan won over 50 percent of votes against his rival Abdel- Mohsen Salama, managing director of state-run Al-Ahram Newspaper, replacing outgoing syndicate chairman Mamdouh al-Wali, board chairman of Al-Ahram Newspaper, who repeatedly denied being a Muslim Brotherhood member.

Rashwan studied political science at Cairo University and graduated in 1981. He also got his master's degree in political history from Sorbonne University in Paris in 1985.