PASOK’s former party secretary Costas Skandalidis yesterday threw his hat into the ring of the leadership challenge, expressing his intention to run as a third candidate in November’s vote.

“I am not against George Papandreou or Evangelos Venizelos, both of whom I respect,” Skandalidis said of the PASOK chief and his main challenger Evangelos Venizelos.

A former minister, Skandalidis said he aimed to be “an agent for synthesis, prospects and proposals to left-wing parties” and stressed that he wished to unify, not split, the strife-torn party.

In order to run as a candidate, he must amass support from at least 86 members of PASOK’s national council or 35,000 signatures from party members or supporters.

Venizelos said he welcomed Skandalidis’s announcement which “sent a clear

message of the need for unity.”

A group of high-profile PASOK cadres, including former European Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou and former minister Theodoros Pangalos, were reportedly displeased with Skandalidis’s move. Diamantopoulou had strongly hinted she would run for the presidency herself while Pangalos had not ruled out his candidacy. According to Costas Laliotis, also a former PASOK minister, Skandalidis’s move could help ease the tension between the Papandreou and Venizelos camps since the latter effectively challenged the former to a leadership contest on election night earlier this month.