Electorate votes for new faces
Some 85 of the 300 MPs elected in Sunday’s election will be entering Parliament for the first time as voters sent parties a clear message of change and withdrew their support for a number of political heavyweights. Among the most high-profile politicians to lose her seat was former Education Minister Marietta Giannakou who failed to be elected in the Athens B district. Giannakou appears to have personally paid the price for the conservative government’s controversial reforms in the education sector. In addition to pushing through reforms at universities that brought on weekly street demonstrations in central Athens, Giannakou also had the task of handling changes to a sixth-grade history book. «I believe that her poor handling of the textbook cost her. I respect her, even though we had disagreements over how she handled talks held on reforms affecting the operation of universities,» said Dimitris Voloudakis, the secretary at the New Democracy-affiliated university student group DAP-NDFK. Sources said that Giannakou’s handling of the changes made to the primary school history book were also criticized by senior members of the conservative party as discussions over the issue also dented the party’s popularity. Giorgos Kalos, who served as deputy minister under Giannakou, also appears to have fallen short of being elected as a member of parliament, in a sign that the political fallout from the book and reforms also harmed his popularity. Other well-known experienced political figures who failed to be elected include PASOK’s Akis Tsochadzopoulos in Thessaloniki and former Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis in Hania, Crete. Christos Protopappas, a former government spokesman for PASOK, and Miltiadis Papaioannou, a former labor minister, both also failed to be elected in their respective districts. Of the 100 MPs that are not deputies who have been reelected, about 15 are politicians who have been served as MPs in the past.
