Portugal MP elected IPU President

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2

Portugal MP Duarte Pacheco has been elected the new President of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) for a three-year term. He defeated Muhammed Sanjrani (Pakistan), Akmal Saidov (Uzbekistan) and Salma Ataullahjan (Canada).

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla congratulated Pacheco on his election and hoped that his belief in the rule of law, consensus building and multilateralism would help build a stronger and more focused IPU. Sources said Sanjrani might have lost because of his inexperience while the Canadian candidate did not have the full backing of her government.

The election process to elect the new IPU President through remote electronic secret ballot with a 24-hour window for casting votes began at 7.30 pm on Sunday.

The Indian Parliamentary delegation, led by the Lok Sabha Speaker, consisted of Poonamben Maadam Swapan Dasgupta. During the day, Laurence Fehlmann Rielle (Switzerland) and Beatriz Argimon (Uruguay) were unanimously elected to the IPU Executive Committee. — TNS