With 401 votes in favour, the European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission in a secret ballot on Thursday. This will be Ursula von der Leyen's second term as Commission President. She was first elected by MEPs in July 2019. The European Parliament is currently composed of 719 MEPs, so the necessary majority was 360 votes. The vote was held by secret paper ballot. 401 MEPs voted in favour, 284 against, and 22 cast blank or invalid votes. Ahead of the vote, Ursula von der Leyen presented her political priorities for the next five years during a debate with MEPs. She called for "a strong Europe in a period of great anxiety and uncertainty". Source: Qatar News Agency