ATHENS – With growing prospects that the election of a new Greek President in February, 2015 could be blocked by the major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), the country’s ruling parties reportedly are considering proposing a candidate who isn’t a retread politician. The idea – first recommended by the new anti-politician To Potami (The River) party leader Stavros Theodorakis – was snapped up by Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, the leader of the PASOK Socialists who are partners in the coalition headed by Premier and New Democracy Conservative leader Antonis Samaras. SYRIZA, which is opposed to the austerity measures the government has imposed on orders of international lenders, said it would try to block any candidate from New Democracy-PASOK, which would force early national elections and could precipitate another financial crisis for a country just beginning to recover from a crushing economic debacle. It takes 180 votes in Parliament to name a President, a symbolic office usually headed by a former politician acceptable to a broad base of parties and not from the rulers, although New Democracy figures want someone from their party to also hold the post. New Democracy has 126 seats and PASOK 28 for a total of 54 and Samaras is keen to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to muster another 26 votes to get its candidate accepted, opening the door for SYRIZA, which has taken a growing lead in surveys. Venizelos told Reuters in an interview that the government was open to candidates who may not be politicians but in the field of academics or even culture, breaking with a decades-long tradition. “The list for President is very limited,” Venizelos said in New York where he was attending the UN General Assembly. He did not disclose names for candidates to replace incumbent Karolos Papoulias whose five-year term ends in March. “We have some scenarios but we are absolutely open.” It had been reported that the ruling parties were first considering Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the Democratic Left (DIMAR) party that was in the coalition before leaving last year after refusing to back the firing of all 2,653 workers at the now-defunct national broadcaster ERT, which Venizelos did. But DIMAR has slipped to to barely above 1 percent in polls, making Kouvelis a fading figure in Greek politics and one who is being challenged even within his own party after taking it into last place among those in Parliament. If Parliament elects a non-politician, it would be the first time since 1985, when the late socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou proposed a Supreme Court judge for the job. Read More: thenationalherald/60256/
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 21:58:09 +0000
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