By Yannis Anifantis

With 15 votes in favor, 7 “present” and 7 against, the Conference of Presidents rejected the proposal of the governing majority to appoint Dimitris Sotiropoulos to the position of Ombudsman.

In particular, only ND MPs voted in favor, SYRIZA, PASOK, KKE and Spartans declared “present” while the remaining 7 (Pleussi Eleftherias, New Left, Niki, Hellenic Solution, Khourdakis) voted against.

Speaking to the parliamentary editors, the President of the Parliament emphasized that the term of the advocate has expired 2.5 years ago and that he could not grant another postponement.

In fact, he noted that the change of baton in the Authority is not related to the Pylos wreck, as he said he had started the procedures to replace the Authority, two months before the tragedy.

“For two and a half years, the government has been obstructing the matter of replacing the ombudsman, leading to an extension of Mr. Pottaki. PASOK, consistent in its support and defense of independent authorities, requested that Mr. Pottakis at the Conference of the Presidents of the Parliament in order to inform us about the outstanding matters of the Authority and in particular about important cases that concern the whole of society, such as the Pylos shipwreck” reported PASOK representatives, with Theodora Tzakri denouncing the government’s extortionate move . “Regardless of the face of Mr. Sotiropoulou, we voted ABSENT mainly for the selection of a specific selection method”, underlined the main opposition member of parliament.