Roberta Metsola elected new President of European Parliament

First Vice-President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola on Tuesday has been elected by the absolute majority as the new president of the EU body in the first round.

Out of 690 lawmakers, 458 voted for her candidacy.

Metsola becomes the first woman to head the EU parliament since 1999.

Metsola, a member of the right-wing EPP group from Malta, was among four candidates for the position, besides Spain’s Sira Rego (radical left), Poland’s Kosma Zlotowski (ECR, Eurosceptics), and Sweden’s Alice Bah Kuhnke (Greens).