Greek conservative party electing new leader

Greece’s conservative New Democracy party was voting to elect a new leader Sunday, with a street-smart lawyer and the reformist son of the party’s ex-chief vying to head the main opposition party.

Some 400,000 party members are expected to cast ballots nationwide at stations that opened at 0500 GMT and will close at 1700 GMT.

Results are expected late in the evening.

The two candidates are 62-year-old party stalwart Vangelis Meimarakis and 47-year-old Kyriakos Mitsotakis, son of former New Democracy leader and ex-prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis.

A tough-talking former parliament chief who last year temporarily ran the party, Meimarakis took an 11.3-percent lead over the more patrician Mitsotakis in the first round of the vote on December 20.

But Mitsotakis hopes to pick up the voters of two other candidates who were eliminated in the first round.

Meimarakis, who cultivates a man-of-the-people profile, rejects “extreme” cutbacks and favours “social liberalism with a human face”, while Mitsotakis is an ardent reformer who champions “common sense against populism.”

New Democracy has been without an elected leader since July, when party head Antonis Samaras abruptly resigned, leaving Meimarakis in charge.

Harvard-educated Mitsotakis says he is better equipped to lead the party against youthful leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has beaten New Democracy twice in the last elections, most recently in September with Meimarakis as interim leader.

A commentator in leftist daily Avgi on Tuesday took a clear stand in favour of the older Meimarakis.

We await a Meimarakis victory, which should produce a democratic, useful, cooperative political opposition,” commentator Betty Vakalopoulou wrote.

Mitsotakis has shrugged off criticism that he got this far thanks to his family connections. His father Constantine Mitsotakis headed the party from 1984 to 1993 while his sister Dora Bakoyannis is a former Athens mayor and ex-foreign minister.

I am proud of both my name and surname,” Mitsotakis said in a recent interview.

I feel that I am better suited for the job,” he said.

Mitsotakis has been accused of excessive job-cutting zeal during his term as administrative reform minister in 2013-2015.

I don’t think that firing cleaning ladies counts as reform,” Meimarakis said in a recent interview, slamming his rival.

I found this policy in place, I applied it as best I could,” Mitsotakis retorted this week.