Papoulias expected to land second term as Greek president

02/02/2010

PASOK octogenarian Karolos Papoulias is likely to win re-election.

By HK Tzanis for Southeast European Times in Athens -- 02/02/10

Greek President Karolos Papoulias. [AFP]

As Greece's parliament prepares to select the country's president Wednesday (February 3rd), odds are that 80-year-old socialist Karolos Papoulias will get a second five-year term. He's running unopposed.

If elected, he will serve the 7th presidential term since the restoration of democracy in 1974.

The post of president in Greece is largely ceremonial, yet the run-up to a scheduled presidential election usually generates widespread speculation and political "jockeying" over the prospect of holding an early vote. Failure by parliament to elect a president leads to the assembly's dissolution.

The constitution mandates that a candidate get 2/3rds -- or 200 -- votes in the unicameral parliament to become president. If that majority isn't reached, a second round is held, requiring the same number of votes. A third and final round, five days later, requires 180 votes to elect a president.

If that fails, parliament is dissolved and early elections are held. The new assembly must then elect the president.

Before regaining power in October 2009, the socialist PASOK party promised to trigger an early election at the beginning of 2010 by rejecting any potential candidate, including Papoulias.

At the time, the conservative New Democracy (ND) party had a razor-thin majority in parliament and not enough votes to elect a new president.

PASOK's fresh mandate, coupled with ND's dismal showing in the October election, plus with the deficit crisis plaguing Greece combined to derail an early election.

"It is a joy and honour for us to come to you today with a proposal that honours us all, for your election as president," Prime Minister George Papandreou told Papoulias last week during a courtesy visit.

On Friday, main opposition leader and ND President Antonis Samaras announced his party's support for Papoulias, who is considered healthy and vigorous at 80.

PASOK's 160 deputies, along with ND's 91 MPs and 15 MPs from the right-centre Popular Orthodox Rally party are expected to back him.

Twenty one deputies belonging to the hard-line Communist Party and the Radical Left Coalition are expected to vote "present".

Papoulias served as foreign minister under successive PASOK governments, best remembered for normalising relations between Greece and Albania in the late 1980s. In 1995, the ruling party also negotiated the "interim agreement" between Athens and Skopje.