With a majority of just nine votes, Ursula von der Leyen has been elected as the European Union’s Commission President. The winner was required to attain at least 374 votes, but Mrs Ursula von der Leyen managed to attain a total of 383 votes. Her successful election now means that she will replace Jean-Claude Juncker.
As a member of the centre-right CDU party in Germany, the new president-elect has served in many ministerial positions in the federal cabinet. Under Angela Merkel’s chancellorship, Mrs Ursula von der Leyen has held various cabinet positions in the last 14 years, including: Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth; Minister of Labour and Social Affairs – and a number of other politically significant positions.
Prior to her successful election today, Mrs von der Leyen also served as the German Minister of Defence since 2013. Mrs von der Leyen made history six years ago because she became the first women to head the German defence ministry. And, she has also made history today as she is the first woman to be elected to the office of the President of the European Commission.
Many heads of states and other notable figures have congratulated the new president-elect on her victory. One such figure is the current President of the European Council, Donald Tusk who happily tweeted: “Congratulations Ursula @vonderleyen. Congratulations Europe”.
The Secretary-General of the European Commission, Martin Selmayr also shared his positive thoughts on twitter by stating that “Mission accomplished. The @EU_Commission has – for the first time in history – a female President-elect!”
Meanwhile, eurosceptics have already started to question the legitimacy of the new president-elect. In a statement, Nigel Farage stated that “Ursula von der Leyen has scraped in by 9 votes. Power but no legitimacy”. He also criticised the election process by saying that “this was a total stitch-up from the very beginning”.
