Emily O’Reilly (Ireland) was elected European Ombudsman on Wednesday. She was backed by 359 MEPs in a secret plenary vote. The European Ombudsman investigates citizens’ complaints of maladministration by EU institutions.

Ms O’Reilly is the first woman to become European Ombudsman. The former ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros resigned on march with effect on october 1st.

Four candidates took part in the second ballot, following the withdrawal of the candidatures of Markus Jäger (Germany) and Alex Brenninkmeijer (The Netherlands). In the third ballot, Members had to choose between Ria Oomen-Ruijten (The Netherlands), a member of the european parliament,  and Emily O’Reilly (Ireland). the two candidates who won most votes in the second ballot as provided by the rules. The other two candidates were Dagmar Roth-Behrendt (Germany) and Francesco Speroni (Italy).

On 18 June, all six candidates for the post were questioned by MEPs on what they could offer by way of independence, visibility and transparency, in a series of public hearings held by the Petitions Committee.

EU rules establish that the Ombudsman must “offer every guarantee of independence”. The Ombudsman is usually elected by Parliament in a secret vote at the start of each parliamentary term. Ms O’Reilly was elected following the retirement of Nikiforos Diamandouros.

Ms. O’Reilly is a former journalist. She served since 2003 as irish ombudsman. Her yearly salary will be about €248000.

She is a native of Tullamore, Co Offaly and is married with five children. Ms O’Reilly is a graduate of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. She was also the recipient of a Niemann Fellowship in Journalism at Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A