The result of the first round of voting for the President of the European Parliament is completed. However no winner announced and the same candidates will compete in the second round.
Four candidates are standing for election, who presented their vision for their leadership of the House in five-minute speeches.
The socialist candidate David-Maria Sassoli (S&D, IT) received 325 votes. The Conservative candidate Jan Zahradil (ECR, CZ) arrived second with 162 votes while the Green Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, DE) received 133 votes. The Left Sira Rego (GUE/NGL, ES) received 42 votes.
735 MEPs vote. 662 were valid votes while 73 were blank or invalid votes.
The absolute majority of votes cast are 332 votes.
Under Rule 15 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, candidates for the presidency may be put forward either by a political group or by 1/20th of Members, i.e. 38 MEPs (“low threshold” introduced by the revised Rules of Procedure). The election is held by secret ballot. To be elected, a candidate must win an absolute majority of the valid votes cast, i.e. 50% plus one (Rule 16). Blank or spoiled ballots do not count in calculating the majority required.
If no candidate is elected in the first ballot, the same or other candidates can be nominated for a second round under the same conditions. This can be repeated in a third round if necessary, again with the same rules. If no-one is elected at the third ballot, the two candidates with the most votes in that round proceed to a fourth and final ballot, where the one receiving the greater number of votes wins.
