Konstantinos Tasoulas is the new President of the Republic

Konstantinos Tasoulas became the 9th President of the Republic today, receiving 160 votes from the New Democracy parliamentary group (156) and independent MPs: Antonis Samaras and Marios Salmas (from New Democracy), Charalampos Katsivardas (from the “Spartans” group), and Pavlos Sarakis (from the “Hellenic Solution” group). [1], [2].

He was elected in the 4th round of voting, where 151 votes were required, after failing to be elected with 200 votes (1st and 2nd rounds) or 180 votes (3rd round). Until 2019, if the President of the Republic was not elected by the 3rd round, the parliament would be dissolved, and elections would be called (as listed in the relevant explainer). The new President is expected to be sworn in on March 13, following the end of the term of outgoing President Katerina Sakellaropoulou. Other candidates, Tasos Yannitsis, Louka Katseli, and Kostas Kyriakou, received 34, 29, and 14 votes, respectively, with 39 MPs declaring “present” and 24 abstaining.

The election of the former Speaker of the Parliament breaks the political tradition (1995-2020) of electing the President of the Republic from the opposition.

Tasos Yannitsis was voted for by the PASOK parliamentary group (31) as well as the independents: Burhan Baran (from PASOK), Rania Thraskia, and Petros Pappas (from SYRIZA-PS). Louka Katseli was voted for by the SYRIZA-PS parliamentary group (26), along with the independents Athena Linou and Giannis Sarakiotis (from SYRIZA-PS) and Areti Papayiannou (from Plevsi Eleftherias). Kostas Kyriakou was voted for by the “Niki” parliamentary group (10) and the independents: Dionysios Baltogiannis, Ioannis Dimitrokallis, Georgios Manousos, and Konstantinos Floros (from the “Spartans” group).

The parliamentary groups of the KKE (21), Hellenic Solution (11), and Spartans (5), as well as independents Michalis Gavgiotakis and Georgios Aspiotis (from the “Spartans” group), declared “present.” A total of 24 MPs abstained from the process: 11 from the New Left, 6 from Plevsi Eleftherias, the 6 independent MPs from the Democratic Movement, and independent MP Evangelos Apostolakis (from SYRIZA-PS).