GENEVA - Member states of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Friday elected Portugal's Antonio Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino as the IOM's next Director General.

IOM's current Director General, William Lacy Swing, will be stepping down after completing the second of two five-year terms.

Vitorino, 61, is expected to begin his directorship on Oct. 1 of 2018.

He was elected to Portugal's Parliament in 1980. In 1983 he became Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs. He subsequently served as Minister for National Defense and Deputy Prime Minister within the government of Antonio Guterres, now the United Nations' Secretary General.

From 1999 to 2004, Vitorino served as the European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs. He has been President of the think tank Notre Europe since June 2011.

Antonio Vitorino earned a degree from the University of Lisbon's School of Law in 1981, as well as a Master's Degree in Legal and Political Science.

Established in 1951, International Organization for Migration has over 10,000 staff and over 400 offices in more than 150 countries.

IOM is the UN Migration Agency and is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration.