Jan Zahradil

Italian former journalist David-Maria Sassoli has been selected as the new president of the European Parliament, BBC reported.

He gathered most of the votes at the first vote that took place earlier today.

The European Parliament hasn't elected a chairman in the first vote, BTA reports. Most votes have been gathered by the Italian David Sassoli. 325 MEPs voted for him.

Four politicians are contenders for parliament presidency in the upcoming elections on Wednesday, the legislature said. 

David Sassoli, centre-left Democratic Party (Italian) with 325 MEPs votes;

David-Maria Sassoli, an Italian member of the Socialists & Democrats bloc, has been elected as the next president of the European parliament after two rounds of voting in the Strasbourg-based legislature.

In the second round Sassoli received 345 votes, well over the absolute majority required from the 667 eligible votes.