AMN/ WEB DESK

The 206th Session of the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU will be held from 1st to 4th November this year. It will be an Extraordinary Virtual Session, which is being organised in place of a full-fledged in-person Statutory Assembly of IPU due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The agenda of the Virtual Session includes the election of the new President of IPU through remote electronic secret ballot since the outgoing President of IPU Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron (MP, Mexico) had completed her term on 19th of this month. The term of the new President of IPU will be from 2020 to 2023.

An Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and consisting of Lok Sabha MP Poonamben Maadam and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta will participate in the Virtual Session and cast their votes.

There are four candidates in the fray for the post of IPU President. They are Duarte Pacheco from Portugal, Muhammad Sanjrani from Pakistan, Akmal Saidov from Uzbekistan and Salma Ataullahjan from Canada.