Prokopis Pavlopoulos was elected to be Greece’s next President with 233 votes in the Parliament on Wednesday. Pavlopoulos, a retired politician from Nea Dimokratia, was nominated by SYRIZA-Independent Greeks coalition government and supported by ND.
He succeeds Karolos Papoulias whose term ends on March 13th, 2015.
The President of the Hellenic Republic is elected for a 5-year term.
Prokopis Pavlopoulos was left-wing SYRIZA’s choice as a symbol to display cohesion and unity in the society and the Parliament.
“We need a personality with democratic sensitive, a strong sense of national consciousness and a wider acceptance in society and in the parliament,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday when his was announcing his nomination.
Prokopis Pavlopoulos, 64, is lawyer, university professor of Constitutional Law, retired MP and former Minister for Nea Dimokratia.
Under Kostas Karamanlis government, he served as Minister for the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization (2004- 2007) and Minister for Interior and Public Order (2007-2009).
He was active in politics for 17 years, he announced that he withdraws in December 2014.
Candidate Nikos Alivizatos nominated by To Potami and supported by PASOK received 30 votes.
MPs from Golden Dawn and KKE voted “present”.
Some MPs in the Parliament of 300 were absent due to health reasons, or because they simply did not want to vote neither in favor or against.
