The Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders was not elected as the newest Secretarygeneral of this Council of Europe (CoE).
Instead, the center-right Marija Pejčinović Burić, Croation Foreign Minister, was chosen as the newest Secretary-General of the CoE. She had received 159 votes from 268 members of this Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE (PACE) in Strasbourg. Meanwhile, the Didier Reynders had 105.
I congratulate @MarijaPBuric for her election as the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe and wish her a lot of success.
I would like to thank the bridesmaids Parliamentarians to their service and the whole team that helped me during this campaign @coe pic.twitter.com/JE0AGXB2Lg
These results appear to reflect the decision of PACE allowing Russian representatives to return to the chamber. It had been 5 years since Moscow wasn’t allowed to vote because of their annexation of Crimea.
Russia threatened to leave PACE when they wouldn’t be allowed to vote in order to replace Thorbjørn Jagland as secretarygeneral.
Source: brussels-express.eu