The European Parliament yesterday re-elected Nikiforos Diamandouros as European Ombudsman for his third consecutive term.

Mr Diamandouros got 340 preferences out of a total of 648 valid votes cast in a secret ballot among MEPs in Strasbourg.

The other two candidates, Belgian Pierre-Yves Monette and Italian Vittorio Bottoli, received 289 and 19 votes respectively.

Commenting after his re-election, Mr Diamandouros said he was very grateful for the support of the European Parliament and for the vote of confidence in his work.

"I look forward to continuing my efforts to improve the quality of the EU administration and to promote a culture of service in the EU institutions for the benefit of European citizens," he said.

Mr Diamandouros also highlighted his priorities for his mandate, which runs until 2014. These include the need to ensure the EU delivers the benefits for citizens promised by the Lisbon Treaty; the strengthening of constructive dialogue with EU institutions and bodies and an improved service to citizens by using resources more efficiently.

He also plans to step up cooperation with national and regional ombudsmen and communicate more effectively with citizens.

The role of the European Ombudsman, established in 1995, is to investigate cases of maladministration by the EU institutions, including lack of transparency and refusal to provide information or documents. The incumbent is elected every five years by the European Parliament.

Mr Diamandouros was elected to serve as EU Ombudsman for the first time in 2003 for the remainder of the 1999-2004 legislative term after the retirement of the first European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman. He was re-elected in 2005.

Before becoming European Ombudsman, he served as Greece's first national Ombudsman between 1998 and 2003.