Greece nominates ex-conservative minister as president

GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday named former conservative minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos as his party’s candidate for president, a move calculated to speed up the process ahead of critical EU talks.

“I believe we need a president with a proven democratic sensitivity, a high feeling of national conscience, and mainly a president who enjoys broad approval in society and parliament,” Tsipras told his lawmakers.

“With that in mind, I propose that our parliamentary group vote for Prokopis Pavlopoulos,” he said.

The nomination of Pavlopoulos, a 65-year-old expert in constitutional law, is aimed at drawing cross-party support and speeding up the presidential election on Wednesday, freeing the government to handle critical EU talks this week over the country’s bailout.

The president, a largely honorary post, is elected exclusively by parliament for a five-year term.

The nomination had been expected at the weekend, but was delayed reportedly after disagreements within the ruling Syriza party about the choice of candidate.

Syriza and its coalition partner, the nationalist Independent Greek party, have 162 deputies in the 300-seat chamber.

At least 180 votes are required to elect a candidate on Wednesday, and 151 votes in an eventual follow-up vote next week.

It was the country’s failure to elect a president in December that triggered the snap poll the following month that brought Syriza to power.

At the time, the conservative-socialist coalition government was unable to muster the 200 votes required in the first two rounds, and the 180 votes necessary in the third round.

But Pavlopoulos is expected to be comfortably elected on Wednesday with the support of the conservative New Democracy party, which has 76 lawmakers.