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PACE elects new president

Stella Kyriakides obtained 132 votes in the third round of voting to outstrip her rival Emanuelis Zingeris of Lithuania

Stella Kyriakides Klara Beck/Council of Europe

Stella Kyriakides

© Klara Beck/Council of Europe

STRASBOURG, October 10. /TASS/. Stella Kyriakides of Cyprus was elected a new President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Tuesday following the resignations of the former President Pedro Agramunt on October 6.

She obtained 132 votes in the third round of voting to outstrip her rival Emanuelis Zingeris of Lithuania, who scored 84 votes.

Read also

Pedro Agramunt’s spokesperson confirms his resignation from post of PACE president

The new president will remain in office until the opening of the next regular session due to he held in Strasbourg on January 22-26.

The scandal around PACE’s former president broke out during the April session when Agramunt came under severe criticism from PACE members for his trip to Syria jointly with Russian lawmakers in March. On April 28, the PACE Bureau resolved it "has no confidence" in its president after Agramunt’s visit to Syria alongside Russian lawmakers. However, the assembly’s regulations did not contain any mechanisms at the time for dismissing PACE officials, including its president (except for cases of their voluntary resignation). At the summer session, PACE amended its Rules of Procedure, making it possible to dismiss the assembly’s high-ranking officials, including president. Agramunt’s term of office was due to expire in January 2018.

Stella Kyriakides has been representing Cyprus in PACE since late June 2016. She is a member of the right faction of the European People’s Party. She ran for acting PACE president as an independent. She is chairperson of the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development and a member of charter bodies. Apart from that, she is a rapporteur for children’s rights and cancer awareness.

She was among the signatories to a motion demanding Agramunt’s resignation.

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