PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) - Suriname's president easily won re-election yesterday in a vote by an assembly of regional councils, ending a heated battle that had left the South American country's leadership in limbo for more than two months.

President Ronald Venetiaan won 560 votes in the 891-member assembly, compared to 315 for his rival, opposition candidate Rabin Parmessar, Suriname's parliamentary electoral commission announced. Four ballots were invalid and at least two assembly members were absent.

The special vote was needed after neither Venetiaan nor Parmessar received the two-thirds majority in the 51-seat National Assembly needed to become president in two rounds of balloting last month.

Assembly members began voting Wednesday morning in Anthony Nesty indoor stadium in the capital, Paramaribo, as Venetiaan and Parmessar looked on.

Venetiaan was declared the winner three hours later, eliciting applause from some of the 1,500 people on hand. Parmessar later walked over and shook Venetiaan's hand in congratulating him.

It was the second time since the South American nation won independence from the Netherlands in 1975 that the assembly elected a president. In 1996, former President Jules Wijdenbosch defeated Venetiaan, who became president in 2000, after his coalition won the legislative elections.

Suriname's leadership has been in limbo since May 25, when Venetiaan's four-party coalition lost 10 seats in Parliament and the simple majority required to govern.

Since then his coalition has forged a governing alliance with a pro-business party and parties representing the descendants of runaway African slaves, known as Maroons.

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