The Greek Parliament declined to approve Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ nominee for the President of the Republic for a third time on Thursday.
In the third of four rounds of voting former parliamentary speaker Konstantinos Tasoulas received 160 votes in the 300-seat House, as he had in the previous two rounds, relying mainly on support from the governing New Democracy party, of which he is a member. He needs 200 votes to be elected outright.
Voting was unchanged from the previous attempts for the other candidates too, with leftist SYRIZA and New Left’s pick, Louka Katseli, garnering 40 votes, Tasos Giannitsis, supported by the main PASOK opposition, getting 34 votes, and Kostas Kyriakou, the far-right Niki party’s candidate, receiving 14 votes.
Fifty-two MPs voted present, expressing their opposition to all four candidates.
Greek Parliament expected to approve Tasoulas for President next week
Tasoulas is expected to prevail at the end of the day, however, as he would only need 151 votes to clinch the post in the fourth and final round of voting next week.
Mitsotakis nominated Tasoulas for the post currently held by Katerina Sakellaropoulou during a televised statement in January. 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.
“His unifying spirit and virtues have been demonstrated by the impeccable manner in which he has, until now, directed the work of the Parliament in a very difficult party landscape,” Mitsotakis added.
He also addressed his decision to break with tradition by nominating someone from the governing majority, arguing that the key criterion is public trust.
The election of the President in Greece
The President of the Hellenic Republic, who has mostly a ceremonial role, is elected by the members of the Greek Parliament, where the governing New Democracy has 156 MPs. Early rounds for the election demand 200 votes, later falling to 180 and then 151 votes.
He or she regulates the functions of the institutions of the Republic according to Article 30, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution. However, the individual elected holds no actual executive powers.
The institution of the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic was established in 1975, one year after the restoration of democracy in Greece following the seven-year military dictatorship, which lasted from 1967 to 1974.
The President is elected by Parliament and serves a term of five years. He or she has the right to re-election only once. The elected President takes an oath before Parliament prior to assuming his or her duties, the form of which is outlined in the Constitution.