Androulakis vows to ‘reconstruct’ Greek center left
A day after he was elected to the leadership of the Movement for Change (KINAL) coalition, Nikos Androulakis Monday pledged to “reconstruct the center left” in Greece.
Speaking at the offices of PASOK, the once-dominant socialists and now the biggest party in the coalition, Androulakis said that Greece “needs a strong voice of progress and pragmatism; a strong social democratic voice.”
“This land must turn the page,” said Androulakis, an EU lawmaker. “We must move to an era where citizens believe that parties can give solutions [to their problems],” he said.
“We have a lot of work to do, starting today,” he said.
Androulakis defeated former prime minister George Papandreou in Sunday’s runoff vote. Partial results shortly before 9 p.m. showed the 42-year-old Androulakis with 68.4% of the vote compared to 31.6% for the 69-year-old Papandreou.
Leftist opposition leader Alexis Tsipras called Androulakis Monday to congratulate him on his victory.
