Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness has confirmed she is running for the presidency of the European Parliament.
The Midlands North-West Fine Gael MEP is currently a vice-president of the parliament.
She is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) group.
Members of the EPP will decide next month what candidate they want to campaign for the top job. The entire parliament will then vote in January.
The current president, Martin Schultz, has announced that he will not seek re-election for a third term.
I will not seek a new mandate as @EP_President and will continue to defend #EU project from national politics pic.twitter.com/i2lxwxwGU8
— EP President (@EP_President) November 24, 2016
Ms McGuinness first battle will be to secure the support of her EPP colleagues.
She says there may be potentially four or five candidates within the EPP who are interested in running.
However if she secures the EPP backing, she will be in with a strong chance of winning the race.
She says she is glad to be competing for the job.
Some of her Fine Gael colleagues are getting behind her campaign:
.@finegael Best of luck to @MaireadMcGMEP in quest for EPP nomination to become President of the European Parliament 1/2
— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) November 24, 2016
