The name of the candidate proposed by the Greek Prime Minister and the ruling New Democracy party for President of the Republic was announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and is none other than Mr. Konstantinos Tasoulas, current President of the Hellenic Parliament. The message of Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
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"Today I am sharing with you my thoughts on the state's highest institution. And, at the same time, I am announcing New Democracy's proposal for the person who will be called upon to serve it. Because the citizens must know, judge the arguments and thus become involved in all the developments of public life," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated in a televised message to the Greek people on Wednesday.
"With a sense of responsibility, I announce that New Democracy's proposal for the next President of the Hellenic Republic will be Constantine Tassoulas, the current Parliament President and the country's third-highest ranking state official. His broad acceptance arises from the fact that he was elected President of the Hellenic Parliament three times with the greatest majority of the post-dicatorship era, with 283, 270 and 249 votes. His unifying spirit and combination of virtues have, I think, been proven by the faultless, by general admission, way in which he has so far handled the running of the Parliament in a very difficult party landscape," PM Mitsotakis said.
He also underlined that "given the fact that the President of Republic has a unifying mission, I believe, he or she should be voted only for one six-year term. So, the discussion for renewal of his or her term in office will not every now and then begin a round of controversy and the institution will remain aloof from party politics. It is a position we will introduce in parliament during the imminent revision of the Constitution".
Concluding his message, Mitsotakis thanked the current President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, saying that she had always held Greece's national dignity elevated and given to the institution a new and human example of a President. He called on all the parliamentary parties to evaluate Tassoulas' candidacy through one sole prism, that of prestige and experience, of knowledge and character, in order to pronounce him first citizen. "If the unbiased answer to these criteria is affirmative, I ask them to support him. It will be an option of unity and perspective for Greece," the Prime Minister concluded.
Who is Konstantinos Tassoulas
The current President of the Parliament, Konstantinos Tassoulas, will be a candidate for President of the Republic from New Democracy. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself in an emergency address on Wednesday morning.
The current President of the Parliament has been in his position since July 2019 and is an MP for Ioannina with New Democracy.
Kostas Tassoulas was born in Ioannina in 1959 and is a lawyer in Athens. He studied at the Law School of the University of Athens and worked during the period 1988-89 at a law firm in London as a scholar of the British Council.
He was private secretary of the late Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas, Honorary President of New Democracy. 1981-1990 and special adviser to the Ministries of Economic Affairs, Trade and Agriculture (1989-1990).
He was President of the Export Promotion Organization (OPE) from 1990 to 1993.
He was elected Municipal Councilor of the Municipality of Kifissia in 1990. In 1994 he was elected Mayor of Kifissia.
In the parliamentary elections of 2000 he was elected for the first time MP for Ioannina with New Democracy. He was re-elected in the parliamentary elections of 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012 (May and June).
In 2006 he was appointed by the Prime Minister as Deputy Parliamentary Spokesman of New Democracy.
In 2007 he was appointed Deputy Minister of National Defence. In February 2010 he was elected Secretary General of the New Democracy Parliamentary Group.
In June 2013 he was appointed by Antonis Samaras, President of the Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy.
In 2014 he was appointed Minister of Culture and Sports until January 2015.
In 2018 he was appointed General Rapporteur of New Democracy for the Constitutional Review.
In 2019 he was elected President of the Hellenic Parliament.
He was re-elected President of the Greek Parliament in May 2023.
He was elected for the 3rd time as Speaker of the House in July 2023.
He is married and has two children.
Katerina Sakellaropoulou's message
The current President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, addressed the citizens with a televised message, thanking the Parliament and the Prime Minister for the "honor and trust".
In a televised message, outgoing President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, addressed the citizens, shortly after the Prime Minister's announcement, proposing Konstantinos Tassoulas for the highest state office.
Katerina Sakellaropoulou remained faithful to her institutional role, and although she was somewhat nervous, she thanked the Prime Minister who had proposed her for this position, as well as the citizens, stressing that she tried to carry out the work assigned to her with consistency and responsibility. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, in her extremely short, video message, avoided mentioning names, concluding: "I wish every success to the next President of the Republic who will be elected by the Greek Parliament."
Katerina Sakellaropoulou is a person who, throughout her term of office, moved institutionally, in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution, and in a statement - a model of institutional operation, she proved it once again. In the last nomenclature period, an inelegant period that brought her into focus, she again moved completely institutionally, without leakage or any move that could be perceived as an attempt to interfere in the debate, awaiting the announcement of the Prime Minister's decision.
"5 years ago the Greek Parliament elected me to the office of President of the Hellenic Republic, following a proposal by the Prime Minister and President of New Democracy Kyriakos Mitsotakis. I thank them for the honor and trust. During my term of office, I have tried to fulfill my duties with the greatest possible responsibility towards the Greek people and my conscience, respecting the competences and institutional role that the Constitution grants to the President of the Republic. I wish every success to the President who will be chosen by the Greek Parliament."
