Interpol holds meeting in Istanbul to elect new president
ISTANBUL – Interpol kicked off its annual meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday to discuss security threats and crime trends as well as to hold a closely watched election for the international police body’s new leadership.
About 470 police chiefs, ministers and other representatives from more than 160 countries are attending the three-day General Assembly, which is scheduled to vote on Thursday to elect a new presidency and executive committee members.
Delegates voted to admit the Federated States of Micronesia, raising the number of Interpol members to 195, according to an Interpol statement.
The election for president is being followed closely since the first-ever Chinese president of the body, Meng Hongwei, vanished midway through his fouryear term on a return trip to China in 2018. It subsequently emerged that he had been detained, accused of bribery and other alleged crimes. Interpol then announced that Meng had resigned from the presidency.