In his message, Samaras explained the decision to speed up the process for the election of President as well as to appoint Dimas as candidate.
"The election of the President of the Republic has lately become a pretext for early elections blackmail. Therefore, while we were financially stable and we finally started to recover, clouds of political instability once again appeared in Greece along with political uncertainty for Greece abroad. The government, as it ought to do, decided to remove this uncertainty and fully restore political stability, speeding up the election of the President of the Republic".It is no surprise that Samaras said that, because Dimas is someone that is well liked by the EU. Stavros Dimas, a former EU commissioner, visited the Greek premier at his office on Tuesday morning, where he was reportedly offered the candidacy.
Besides, the Eurogroup's decision on Monday to approve Greece's credit line and give a technical extension of two months for the conclusion of the new agreement shows that Europe is now realizing that Greece will get to the next day. And this is very positive for the country...
Therefore, with the election of the President by the Greek Parliament by the end of the month, the clouds will have gone away and the country will be ready to officially enter the post-memorandum era.
Together with the Government Vice President, we chose the best candidate for the Presidency of the Republic: Stavros Dimas, a former minister and MP, EU Commissioner, who has been honored with special distinctions, especially in the field of Environmental Protection, a man appreciated by the Greek society and respected by the international community and who obviously will be a candidate in the three presidential votes, if needed.
Stavros Dimas is admittedly a person that unites, but also inspires. He unites citizens beyond partisan preferences and inspires seriousness, trust and respect.
With the election of the new President, Greece - perfectly stable both economically and politically - will be in all respects ready to proceed to the next day; (the day) of calmness, stability and development."
So who were the names that were tossed in the air for the presidential seat?
Even though government sources appear tight-lipped about the people who were considered, rumors in the Greek press focused on names such as the former Prime Minister and Honorary President of the State Council, Panagiotis Pikrammenos. Former Defence Minister and EU Commisioner of Migration and Home Affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos, was also rumored to have been a candidate, while other candidates included former EU Commissioner Maria Damanaki (yuk), the European Ombudsman and academic Nikiforos Diamandouros and the President of the European Union Court Vasilis Skouris. The president of the Acropolis Museum Dimitris Pantermalis was also considered for the position, in case the PM and VP decide to go with a non-political figure, and some news reports had also uttered the name of Marianna Vardinoyiannis.
The decision to bring forward the Presidential elections provides a solution, to a great extent, to the Gordian knot of the political uncertainty that has plagued the country in the past months. The parties and MPs are going to assume the responsibility to elect a President or turn to general elections.
Over the last few months there has been increased political tension, and this created a rather difficult climate that could not continue. This is because it hindered negotiations with our creditors, who appeared increasingly more adamant, constantly demanding even more measures and guarantees in order to close their final review.
The political uncertainty was also hurting our economy so with the Presidential elections out of the way, the air will clear and a period of stability will return.
This is important because the Eurogroup decision to prolong the bailout program for two months secures the necessary guarantees so that the process can move forward in a stable climate, while the economy is not going to experience any funding problems. It is a decisive safeguard that is obviously going to avert any new uncertainties.
So get ready Frappers, Greece's political leadership will make its choices known over the next few weeks and our country will move on accordingly, as it always has.
The Presidential elections process is outlined in Article 32 of the Constitution. The election process will begin on the 17th of December and the third, critical vote of the first phase on the 29th of December.
A new President is elected in a roll-call vote in a special session called by the President of Parliament, at least one month before the term of the outgoing President ends. The elections take place in one or two phases.
The first calls for three votes; in the first vote 200 votes (namely two thirds of the total number of MPs) are necessary.
If necessary, the process is repeated five days later.
A third vote is called five days later if necessary, only this time a three fifths majority is necessary, namely 180 votes.
Should this third vote also not result in a President, then Parliament is dissolved within ten days and general elections are called.
After a new government is formed, the second phase of the Presidential election process begins, which also provides three votes.
In the first vote, a total of 180 votes are required. If there is no majority, then the process is repeated five days later, with an absolute majority of 151 MPs required. Should Parliament fail to elect a President, a third vote follows five days later, where the two candidates face each other.
The one with the most votes is elected President.
At present though, the coalition government can expect 174 to 175 MPs to vote for a President.
Many MPs, especially from DIMAR, ANEL and independents, have not yet clarified their stance, although the two-month extension of the bailout program may sway them towards supporting the government’s candidate.
The coalition government has 155 MPs and is working on securing the votes of 25 more MPs. It has been speculated that 16 independent MPs are considering aligning themselves with the government. As such, the coalition would have to attract votes from ANEL and DIMAR, which have 12 and 10 MPs respectively.
Independent MP Mimis Androulakis, formerly of PASOK, revealed on Twitter that he intends to vote against the President in the election. Androulakis reportedly appeared frustrated at the government’s decision to speed up the process, with experienced government officers suspecting that many more MPs may similarly vote against the government.
A further seven independent MPs have explicitly expressed their intention to vote against the government candidate – (namely: Odysseas Voudouris, Theodoros Parastatidis, Theodora Tzakris, Petros Tatsopoulos, Markos Bolaris, Rachel Makri and Chrysoula Giatagana.)
Assuming that the remaining 16 independent MPs align themselves with the government, then a further 9 MPs from the SYRIZA, KKE, Golden Dawn, DIMAR and ANEL will have to support the government candidate.
In such a framework, it seems easier for the opposition parties to gather 121 MP votes rather than the coalition government achieving its goal of 180 MPs.
The developments in ANEL and DIMAR however may be the key to the vote, as high-ranking government officers expect many MPs to have a change of heart in the third vote.
Both parties have experienced internal problems, with some MPs prepared to disobey the party line in the upcoming vote.
(Combined Reports)
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