Greece: Third vote for president scheduled on Thursday

Greek lawmakers will vote for a new president in the third of four rounds on Thursday, following two failed attempts in the previous two weeks.

The conservative government’s nominee, Konstantinos Tasoulas, received 160 votes in the second round, falling 40 short of the 200 needed (in the 300-seat Parliament) for an outright win. Tasoulas got the same number of votes in the first round on January 25.

Louka Katseli, backed by leftist SYRIZA and the New Left Party, got 40 votes, while Tasos Giannitsis, supported by the main socialist PASOK opposition, garnered 34 votes. Kostas Kyriakou, the nationalist Niki party’s candidate, got 14 votes.

In the third round of voting, the winner will require 180 votes to prevail instead of 200. If no candidate reaches the threshold, the requirement will drop to 151 votes in the fourth round, five days later. Tasoulas, a former House speaker and New Democracy MP, is expected to secure the presidency in the fourth round, given ND’s majority of 156 seats.

The conservative candidate lacks the bipartisan support to secure the necessary two-thirds majority of parliament, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis broke with 50 years of political tradition in which the government would select a figure not aligned with the ruling party.

In 2020, outgoing president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, breezed through the election with 261 votes.

Source: ekathimerini.com