Martin Schulz re-elected President of the European Parliament

2 Jul 2014 12:41 PM

MEPs re-elected Martin Schulz as President of the European Parliament on Tuesday morning for another two and a half year term. The 58-year old German MEP will lead Parliament until January 2017. He won 409 out of 612 valid votes cast in the first ballot.

Mr Schulz is the first President in the history of the European Parliament to be re-elected for a second two and a half year term.

In a brief address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg immediately after the vote, Mr Schulz thanked for MEPs for their confidence in him. "It's an extraordinary honour to be the first re-elected President of the European Parliament. I will take my duty very seriously, because we are heart of the European democracy, keeping the task of passing legislation and overseeing its enforcement. An overwhelming majority of this house drew the conclusion that the leading candidate in the European election should become the President of European Commission, therefore a German word, Spitzenkandidat, has entered into several other European languages".

Mr Schulz also emphasized that MEPs should "demand that people who trade with the EU should respect rule of law, not rule of the strongest. If the EU protects the people, we will win back their trust, irrespective of their origin or gender. The rule of respect and human dignity should guide everything we do and I know an overwhelming majority will share this view. Let us work and have constructive debate!".

A full version of the President's address will be available via the link to the right.

Full result of the vote for the President of the European Parliament

Under Parliament's Rules of Procedure, to be elected President, a candidate must win an absolute majority of the valid votes cast, i.e. 50% plus one. Blank or spoiled ballots do not count in calculating the majority required.

The result of the first ballot was as follows:

Votes cast: 723

Blank or invalid votes: 111

Valid votes cast: 612

Absolute majority of votes cast required to be elected: 307

Votes for the candidates:

Martin Schulz (S&D, DE) 409: Mr Schulz duly elected President of the European Parliament

Sajjad Karim (ECR, UK) 101

Pablo Iglesias (GUE, ES) 51

Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA, AT) 51

The votes to choose Vice-Presidents and Quaestors will take place on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

Procedure: Election of the EP President

#EPPresident

REF. : 20140630IPR51020

Updated: (01-07-2014 - 14:47)
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