Roberta Metsola was re-elected on Wednesday as president of the European Parliament. Ms. Metsola received a total of 562 votes.

A total of 699 MEPs voted, with 60 voting white, 562 Roberta Metsola, and 61 the Spanish counter-candidacy of Irene Montero.

The term of office of the President of the European Parliament lasts 2.5 years.

After the election of the Maltese president, MEPs will have to elect all 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, while at noon on Thursday they will be asked to approve or reject Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission, who is running for the position again, after by proposal of the European Council.

Metsola remains one of the four main strains who will lead the EU in the coming years, along with the head of the European Commission, the president of the European Council and the EU’s top diplomat.

The Maltese politician of the European People’s Party (EPP) was first elected to the office of president in January 2022. It was seen as a foregone conclusion that she would be re-elected as the leftist Montero, Spain’s former equality minister, made a symbolic bid.

The five-year term of the president of the parliament traditionally splits into twobetween the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the center-right EPP (EPP).

Speaking ahead of the vote, Metsola spoke of “strong leadership” recalling that she “grew up on an island in our Mediterranean”, seeing the EU as a place of high standards, opportunities and limitless possibilities, which then made the “incredible journey at the heart of European politics”.