PM expected to reveal candidate for president soon
It is expected to be a matter of days before Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reveals his proposed nominee for the country’s next president, with sources indicating that an announcement may follow the submission of the conservative government’s new electoral law in Parliament this week.
Rumors are swirling about the possible candidates to replace incumbent Prokopis Pavlopoulos, whose term expires in March. Aides close to Mitsotakis say he insists it will be difficult for opposition parties to justify a possible rejection of his nominee, stoking speculation that the candidate will probably not come from the ranks of conservative New Democracy.
The leader of center-left Movement for Change (KINAL), Fofi Gennimata, who has been supportive of the government on several issues of national significance in recent months, has said the next president should come from the center-left.
According to sources, Mitsotakis is likely to opt for a candidate with a profile akin to the prominent Greek jurist and academic Nikos Alivizatos, with a reputation and influence that would allow them to capably represent the country, and be acceptable to KINAL and possibly also SYRIZA.
Alivizatos, a professor of constitutional law who currently heads a committee established by the Citizens’ Protection Ministry to monitor police behavior, had been nominated as a candidate for president in 2015 by PASOK (which later became a part of KINAL), which decided not to back Pavlopoulos’ candidacy.
Another possible candidate, sources indicate, could be former technocrat premier Lucas Papademos, who is widely respected though there are reservations about whether his profile would signify the country’s transition to a new post-crisis era that ND wants to underline.
