On Tuesday 16 July, the MEPs elected a woman – German Christian Democrat Ursula von der Leyen – to lead the European Commission, for the first time (see EUROPE B12297A1). She won by a majority of fewer than 10 votes, with 383 MEPs voting for her versus a required absolute majority of 374 votes.
As it was a secret vote, there is no way of knowing exactly how the hemicycle acted. The next President of the Commission may have been elected by a pro-European majority broadly made up of 180...