Milton Dick, Speaker of Australia’s House of Representatives, has been elected 32nd president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during the organisation’s 153rd Assembly, currently underway in Arusha, Tanzania. The news was announced by San Marino’s Secretariat, which also reported that the newly elected president has agreed to visit the Republic.
Dick will lead the organisation for the 2026-2029 term, having prevailed over two other candidates: Sahiba Gafarova, Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Parliament, and Chilean senator Rojo Edwards Silva.
His candidacy was backed by the San Marino National Group at the IPU, comprising delegation head Lorenzo Bugli and councillors Silvia Cecchetti and Giovanni Maria Zonzini.
The group, the statement reads, “firmly supported Dick’s candidacy, recognising in it a vision that resonates fully with San Marino: one of parliamentary diplomacy that measures a country’s standing not by its size, but by the quality of its contribution to dialogue among peoples.”
Speaker of the Australian House since 2022, Dick has held several roles within the IPU, including vice-president of the Executive Committee for the Asia-Pacific Group and chair of the Sub-Committee on Finance. In this latter capacity, the statement notes, “he worked towards a more transparent and accountable Organisation.”
The statement credits the new president with a candidacy capable of winning support across multiple continents, partly through his attention to small states and to parliaments that are less represented in international debate.
“Dick has shown he can speak to large and small states alike, to minorities and to parliaments that struggle to make their voice heard, proposing an IPU in which every Assembly counts equally,” the Secretariat emphasised. “At the heart of it all lies a method even before a programme: genuine dialogue, not mere appearance, as the way to address the crises and conflicts of our time.”
The IPU brings together the parliaments of more than 180 countries. Its president serves as the organisation’s political head, chairs its governing bodies and represents the IPU at major international events.
In Arusha, the San Marino delegation met personally with Dick and extended an invitation to visit San Marino. “Dick accepted the invitation, expressing his willingness to visit the Republic and to meet its highest institutional authorities,” the statement concludes.
