Scottish parliament elects new presiding officer

Scottish Labour Party's Ken Macintosh on Thursday was elected as presiding officer for the fifth term of the Scottish Parliament.

After three rounds of voting, Macintosh won the title to replace former presiding officer Tricia Marwick from the Scottish National Party (SNP), promising to work across the party divide for the common good.

In the running for the post, he defeated former Scottish Labour Party leader Johann Lamont and Labour member of the Scottish parliament Elaine Smith, Conservative members Murdo Fraser and John Scott. Smith and Scott were deputy presiding officers for the fourth session of the Scottish Parliament.

Following the tradition that the presiding officer is nonpartisan, Macintosh will renounce his party affiliation to play the role to oversee meetings of the Scottish parliament and represent the parliament in and out of Scotland.

Later, SNP members Linda Fabiani and Christine Grahame were elected as the first and the second deputy presiding officer.

The total 129 newly-elected members of Scottish parliament were sworn in earlier in the day, taking either an oath or an affirmation inside the parliament debating chamber.

On Wednesday, the Prince of Wales Charles attended the gathering event for the Scottish parliament members in Scotland's capital on the eve of the fifth session of the parliament.

In the Scottish parliament election on May 5, the fifth since it was established in 1999, SNP won 63 seats, against the Scottish Conservative party's 31, the Scottish Labour Party's 24, the Scottish Green Party's six and the Scottish Liberal Democrats' five.

Source: XINHUA