Beppe Galea has been elected chairman of Europe's largest youth political organisation on Saturday.

Galea won the European Democrat Students (EDS) post with 98% of the vote.

This is the first time that a Maltese is occupying such a position. He will lead the EDS for a one-year term as its chair, along with his UK counterpart Ivan Botoucharav who will serve as EDS secretary general.

The duo were contested by Thomas Belligh from Belgium and Karlo Kolesar from Croatia.

The election took place on Saturday to elect a President and Vice President for the European Democrat Students. This was the first time after eight years that the election was contested with a number of candidates.

EDS represents over a million students and young people in 40 member organisations from 35 countries in Europe. It is the largest youth political organisation in the EU.

Galea, who worked as a journalist with Newsbook, also served in Studenti Demokristjani Maltin (SDM) for seven years, including the past two years in which he held the position as Secretary General.

Announcing his candidature, Galea said that "it is an honour for me to be serving EPP - European People's Party in one of its official assocations bringing fresh and innovative policies to the biggest political party in Europe."

He remarked that after being part of the largest student political organisation in Europe, contesting for chair was the natural step forward.

"I look forward to setting our vision for the organisation, with many plans and policies which will work towards strengthening and unifying EDS, increasing our advocacy and outreach, and improving the high quality content that our members strive hard to produce," Galea said.

Nationalist party leader Bernard Grech congratulated Galea and said that he has no doubt that Galea's work will inspire many young people, especially Maltese, to get involved in politics, while leading the union forward and representing students in the best possible way.