Sophie Wilmès, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, was elected on Tuesday afternoon in Strasbourg as one of the 14 vice-chairs of the European Parliament.
Wilmès (MR) was one of 11 candidates who immediately secured the necessary absolute majority of votes in the first round. The threshold was set at 333 votes; Wilmès crossed the finish line 10th, garnering 371 votes.
A total of 720 members of the European Parliament elect 14 vice-chairs and five quaestors. Along with President Roberta Metsola, who was re-elected by a large margin on Tuesday morning, they make up the Bureau, an institution overseeing administrative and organisational matters in the parliamentary chamber. The vice-chairs also preside over debates when the chair is absent.
Wilmès was one of two candidates from her liberal group, Renew. Although this political family suffered heavy losses in the recent European elections, Wilmès scored remarkably well in Belgium. She achieved a record tally of 543,821 preference votes in the French-speaking electorate.
Candidates from the right-wing nationalist ECR faction, the far-right parties; ‘Patriots for Europe’ and ‘Europe of Sovereign Nations’, and from the far-left faction have not yet been elected. A second round of voting is due to take place on Tuesday evening to fill three remaining vacancies within the Bureau.
