Brussels, 13/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The fairchair my vote my parliament campaign being led by the Independence and Democracy group in the European Parliament is holding a press conference entitled “An election not a coronation” in Strasbourg on Tuesday, to condemn the arrangement between the EP's two main political groups, the EPP-ED and the PES, which has almost always led to the five-year Presidency of the Parliament being shared between members of these two groups. (The exceptions were during the first term beginning in June 1979, with French Liberal Simone Veil being the first President of the Parliament elected by universal suffrage, followed by Dutch Labour MEP Piet Dankert, and during the fifth term beginning in 1999, when the Irish Liberal Pat Cox succeeded French Christian Democrat Nicole Fontaine: Ed.) In January 2007, a press release states, a President will be elected, whose name has been known for more than two years (the leader of the EPP-ED group Hans-Gert Pöttering, after Spanish Socialist Josep Borrell: Ed.). The press release goes on, “Let us be clear and call this a coronation, not an election. In question is not the candidate, but the system that will appoint him”. The leaders of the campaign, which has long protested against the under-representation of the European Parliament's smaller groups, propose that all candidates are nominated for a “genuine debate” to emerge and for “real election campaigns” to be held before the vote in January. They believe that “Our next President must lead the fight for one parliamentary seat before the European elections in June 2009”, a process which, they say, could start when the calendar for 2008 is discussed. (mg)