Greece’s conservative party New Democracy is expected to elect a new leader by the end of October in the aftermath of the election loss to leftist SYRIZA.
Incumbent party chief Vangelis Meimarakis announced on Monday that it is time to start the race for a new president. Meimarakis was vice president to Antonis Samaras and took the seat after the latter resigned early in the summer.
Meimarakis told the press that according to the party’s statute he is the transitional president and an election is due by the end of October.
Meimarakis met with the general secretary of the conservative party’s political council Andreas Papamimikos late on Monday and decided to hold the contest as soon as possible after the loss to SYRIZA by almost 7.5 percentage points.
The official announcement that will launch the election process in order for candidates to express their interest in the position is expected by the end of the week.
Meimarakis said that most likely he will not be a candidate. He said he disagrees with the process of grass roots voting for party president.
The party’s central committee will convene within the next few days to decide on the timeline of the contest.
So far former prime minister Costas Karamanlis and senior party member Dora Bakogiannis expressed their support to Meimarakis and said that he should remain party chief for the next few months at least.
Meimarakis will be in Brussels on Wednesday for the European People’s Party meeting. It is likely that he will also meet with top European Union officials on the sidelines of the summit on the refugee issue.
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