The US House of Representatives has still not managed to elect a new speaker. The seat belongs to the Republican Party, which holds the majority in the House of Representatives. However, the party is divided.
21:11•Updated 21:24
The Fifth vote for a new speaker is underway in the US House of Representatives. Usually, the vote for the speaker is a mere formality, and the majority party has decided on a new speaker before the vote. The number one Republican candidate is Kevin McCarthy.
However, the Republican side is very divided, and McCarthy does not have the support of the far right of the party. For the former president For Donald Trump loyal republicans presented their own candidate on the fourth and now the fifth ballot on Wednesday night, Byron Donaldsas speaker.
– This is very embarrassing for the Republican Party and shows the internal division of the party to the whole world, ‘s US correspondent Iida Tikka says.
Tikka points out that although the dispute is domestic, it sends a worrying signal to Europe.
– It shows how the US political system is divided at the federal level. Carrying out even simple actions is difficult. It is a worrying signal, for example, for how Ukraine’s support packages can be carried through.
A simple majority of the House of Representatives, i.e. 218 votes, is required to elect the Speaker. Even a smaller number of votes can be enough, if one or some representatives vote absent. This is what happened in the fourth round of voting, when one Republican representative abstained.
Democrats’ votes go to the party’s own candidate Apply for Jeffriesand the 222 votes of the Republicans will be divided in the fifth round of voting.
The chairman was voted on three times yesterday, and today, Wednesday, for the fourth time. It is the first time in a hundred years that the party in the majority of the House of Representatives was unable to elect a speaker in the first round of voting.
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