Former Prime Minister and leader of the New Democracy party Costas Karamanlis on Friday said that voting for the conservative New Democracy party is the only way to strengthen Greece's political stability but most importantly it is the only way to help debt-wracked Greece pull itself out of recession. Karamanlis, who has been infamously laconic since losing the 2009 general election, urged center-right voters to back the party of Antonis Samaras on June 17. "Choosing to abstain or to support one of the smaller center-right parties as protest vote would essentially be a vote for SYRIZA,” Karamanlis said in reference to the leftist anti-bailout party led by Alexis Tsipras.