BEIRUT —  Beirut was among seven cities selected as a “New7Wonders” city, beating out more than 1,000 competitors, the organization’s chief announced Sunday.

“I would like to thank everyone who has helped promote the New7Wonders Cities campaign since its inception in 2011,” Bernard Weber, founder and president of New7Wonders said in video posted online.

In addition to the Lebanese capital, the list also included Doha, La Paz, Vigan, Kuala Lumpur, Havana and Durban.

“We began with more than 1,200 nominees from 220 different countries and here have seven that represent the global diversity of urban society,” he said, speaking from Dubai.

The campaign passed through several rounds of voting before reaching the election of the top seven cities. Of the 1,200, voters qualified 300 for the second round, before being shortlisted to 77 in the third.

Then a “panel of experts,” which included architects and urbanism scholars, chose 28 to pass through three shortlisting votes before the seven were decided on.

Individuals voted using the organization’s website, a special mobile phone app, by calling in, and sending SMS.