STRASBOURG, France -- Maltese politician Roberta Metsola was reelected as president of the European Parliament on Tuesday as the new parliament session kicked off here.

Metsola won 562 votes in the first round of balloting, easily capturing the needed majority after the Parliament's major groups agreed ahead of time to back the 45-year-old politician.

Metsola was the candidate of the center-right European People's Party, which took up 188 seats in the parliament, more than any other group.

During the first plenary session of the newly-elected European Assembly on Tuesday, 623 out of the total 720 members cast their votes. The other candidate Irene Montero, a Spanish politician, got 61 votes.