Greece’s 300 new deputies of the 18th session of the Hellenic Parliament were sworn in on Wednesday with three successive oaths, which included two religious and one secular.
Following the official oaths, Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, along with members of the Holy Synod conducted the traditional blessing.
The proceedings started with the swearing-in of MPs on the Bible, conducted by Archbishop Ieronymos, followed by an oath on the Quran for the parliament's three Muslim MPs and, lastly, a secular affirmation for the MPs that preferred this option.
The new parliament has a total of 61 women from all six parties and 112 new MPs that are elected to parliament for the first time.
New Democracy holds 158 seats, main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance has 86, Movement for Change (KINAL) has 22, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has 15, Greek Solution has 10 and MeRA25 (DiEM25) has nine.
After the swearing-in ceremony, Varemenos called the MPs to elect the body's new president on Thursday, July 18. Ruling New Democracy has announced that it will propose Konstantinos Tasoulas for the position of parliament president.
*Source: AMNA
