The Prime Minister’s decision to nominate Parliamentary Speaker Konstantinos Tasoulas, from his ruling New Democracy party, to become Greece’s new President sparked a wave of criticism from opposition parties.
Mitsotakis nominated Tasoulas for the post, currently held by Katerina Sakellaropoulou, during a televised statement on Wednesday. He said that Tasoulas is a widely accepted politician who was elected President of the Greek Parliament three times with the strongest majority in modern Greek history: with 283, 270 and 249 votes.
Tasoulas has been serving as President of the Hellenic Parliament since 18 July 2019. A member of the governing New Democracy, he has been an MP representing the region of Ioannina since 2000.
The Left in Greece proposes other candidates for President
However, opposition parties accused Mitsotakis of breaking tradition and being partisan.
PASOK spokesperson Kostas Tsoukalas, speaking on public broadcaster ERT, said that, “Mr. Mitsotakis is making a purely partisan choice by selecting a sitting MP from the New Democracy party for the highest office. He acted unilaterally, breaking political traditions and exposing his deep political insecurity.”
Tsoukalas said the “arbiter of the political system” cannot be a figure entirely aligned with the ruling party.
PASOK’s choice for President is Tasos Giannitsis, a politician, academic and business executive. He was Minister for Labor and Social Insurance and, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the PASOK government in the early 2000s. He is a professor in the Economic Department of the University of Athens.
The New Left party of breakaway former SYRIZA dissidents denounced the nomination and said it was designed to perpetuate New Democracy’s conservative policies and put them in the hands of a President who’s supposed to be neutral.
“Mr. Tasoulas, on all critical issues concerning the rule of law, the wiretapping scandal and the Tempi [railway] tragedy, did everything to support Mr Mitsotakis rather than the pursuit of truth,” the statement added.
SYRIZA and New Left proposed former economy minister Louka Katseli and the head of Greece’s independent privacy watchdog ADAE, Christos Rammos, who had been targeted by New Democracy for investigating a wiretap scandal.
Communist Party leader Dimitris Koutsoubas said as the “institution of the President of the republic functions as a custodian of the dominant policy and essentially validates all the anti-popular decisions of the respective government,” his party doesn’t care who is nominated.
Voting for new President on Jan. 25
Greece’s current President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou—the first woman to hold the position—was not nominated for a second term after reports she alienated hard-core New Democracy elements for backing same-sex marriage—which was brought by Mitsotakis.
In addition, Mitsotakis proposed a constitutional change to limit the President of the Hellenic Republic to a single six-year term, stating his intention to bring this forward during the next constitutional revision.
The voting for the President is due to take place on January 25. To win in the first or second round, a candidate needs 200 votes, with that number dropping to 180 in the third round and a simple parliamentary majority of 151 sufficing in the fourth.
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