Two women are running for the presidency of the European Parliament: the current president, Roberta Metsola, from Malta and politically integrated into the PPE party, and Irene Montero, from Spain, from Podemos and integrated into the European Parliament in the Left parliamentary group.
Candidates for the office of President of the European Parliament may be put forward by a political group or by a group of MEPs representing at least 1/20 (one twentieth) of the elected members. Before the vote, candidates may address the MEPs assembled in plenary for a maximum of five minutes.
Elections are held by secret ballot and require an absolute majority of valid votes cast, i.e. 50% plus one. Blank or invalid votes are not taken into account.
The deadline for submitting nominations for the presidency of the parliament was Monday, July 15, at 7 p.m. If no candidate is elected in the first round, the same or different candidates may be nominated for a second round under the same conditions. If necessary, a third round may be held, again following the same rules.
If no candidates are elected in the third round, the two candidates with the most votes in the third round go to a fourth and final vote and the person with the most votes wins.
Once elected, the new president will assume the presidency and may deliver an inaugural address.
The procedure for electing the President of the European Parliament is set out in the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, in Rules 14 to 16. The session at which the new President is elected is chaired by the outgoing President or one of the outgoing Vice-Presidents (determined in the order of precedence) or, in their absence, by the longest-serving MEP. The process is supervised by eight tellers, chosen by lot from among the MEPs.
*SAPO24 follows the European Parliament elections in Strasbourg
