Republican majority leader Kevin McCarthy failed to win the first round of the US House of Representatives elections for the first time in a century, as a result of disagreements within the Republican majority.
The new members of the US House of Representatives who won the mid-term elections in November met to take the oath for a two-year term and elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives, but the battle for the presidency is not settled in their favor as it seems at first glance.
The number of Republicans in the new House is 222, compared to 212 for the Democrats, and the leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, needs 218 votes to be elected Speaker of the House.
McCarthy is facing difficulty in obtaining the position of president due to the opposition of a small group of Republicans close to former US President Donald Trump, who announced that they would set conditions before the vote.
So far, five Republican members have expressed their opposition to McCarthy's support, and there are nine others whose votes are not guaranteed, and it is sufficient that there are five Republican votes in opposition to McCarthy in order for him to fail to obtain the 218 votes required to secure the presidential seat.
In the event that McCarthy fails to secure the required votes, another election round will be held, and this will be repeated until any candidate obtains the necessary number of votes.
On the other hand, it is expected that all Democrats will vote for their leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffreys, as Speaker of the House, although this step remains symbolic and will not give him the presidency of Congress.
After obtaining a majority in the House of Representatives, the Republicans vowed to confront US President Joe Biden's policy, conduct investigations into his management of the pandemic, and withdraw from Afghanistan.