WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – Republican Kevin McCarthy has in all probability lost the election to the chair of the House of Representatives in the second attempt. However, the result of the vote on Tuesday afternoon (local time) still had to be officially confirmed by the chair of the meeting. Earlier, McCarthy had suffered a historic defeat in the first round – it was the first time in a hundred years that an election had required more than one attempt and a faction had refused to support its candidate in the first round.
In the first ballot, 19 party colleagues rebelled against McCarthy, refused to support him and voted for other candidates. In the second oral vote, 19 colleagues did not vote for the 57-year-old. Instead, the votes all went to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. He had previously nominated McCarthy for the second ballot and persuaded his party colleagues to close the ranks. However, immediately afterwards one of McCarthy’s toughest opponents, MP Matt Gaetz, struck out – and nominated Jordan. Jordan is a close friend of the ex-president donald trump.
In the afternoon (local time) it remained unclear how many votes would still be necessary to elect a new chair for the parliamentary chamber. It was also unclear whether the election would last several days. For McCarthy, this is a public exposure – it also shows the inner turmoil of Republicans. In 1923, nine ballots were needed to determine a chairman./nau/DP/he
