Kostas Tasoulas secures wide MP support as new House president

Greek lawmakers on Thursday approved with an overwhelming majority the appointment of Kostas Tasoulas as new Parliament president, in their first vote since the House convened after the July general elections.
Tasoulas, a lawmaker for Ioannina, secured 283 votes in the 300-seat Parliament, breaking the record for similar votes. A total of 298 MPs participated in the vote and 15 voted "present."
The previous record was held by former SYRIZA MP Zoe Konstantopoulou, who had received 235 votes in January 2015.
Tasoulas was approved by New Democracy, main opposition SYRIZA, centre-left Movement for Change (KINAL), the far-right Greek Solution and MeRA25. The Communist Party voted "present."
His first action will be to speed up the formation of the Parliament's Permanent Committees which study legislation.
More generally, he is also expected to urge lawmakers to...

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