of DORA ANTONIOU

A nomination on the table and widespread nomenclature, grafted with scenarios of possible political developments, make up the puzzle of “pre-elections”.

The government and personally the prime minister are constantly seeking to stop any relevant discussion until the beginning of the new year, when the time for decisions and announcements will approach as the election of the President of the Republic must take place by February 13.

The only proposal that has been submitted publicly is that of Alexis Haritsis, who proposed the president of the Authority for Ensuring the Privacy of Communications, Christos Rammos, and called on all the democratic opposition parties to get behind this nomination.

Everyone, of course, is waiting for the Prime Minister’s decisions, which will largely determine the way in which the official opposition will move.

Until now, the names of the Speaker of the Parliament, Konstantinos Tasoulas, the former Prime Minister Loukas Papadimos, and the governor of the Bank of Greece Giannis Stournaras have been heard as possible options from the side of the government.

In the first case, there is talk of a choice with factional characteristics, which would be done with attention focused primarily on the internal party audience and the hope that due to its institutional status, it could attract some other votes as well. While the choices of Papadimos and Stournara would clearly also be addressed to PASOK, which supported the former’s government and participated in the Samaras government with Mr. Stournara Minister of Finance.

Two more nominations with factional characteristics fell on the table: that of Kostas Karamanlis, who made it clear that he is not interested, and Nikos Dendias, who consistently distances himself from any relevant discussion.

The prime minister appears from his close associates to have not yet made his decisions and is in the process of evaluating the data.

However, experienced party officials of the N.D. they believe that the way in which the issue of Samara’s deletion appears to be closed, without further strong upheavals for the party, the Parliamentary Group and the government, strengthens the chances of an election that will not have factional-party characteristics. Such an option would aim to strengthen the mobilization of K.O. and in the stimulation of factionalism.

In this light, at the given juncture a candidacy without direct connection and reference to the conservative faction seems to be taking precedence. And possibly a non-political choice, so that there are no complaints even from within the ND. Such a choice would serve to seek wider consents and support for the choice from other political forces besides the ND, which has its importance for the institution of the Presidency.

One could say that it is closer to the political philosophy of Mr. Mitsotakis, who has shown that he seeks to achieve consensus and choices that give the impression of openness to wider political audiences.

From PASOK’s side, there is constant reference to the informal tradition that has been created and wants each government to choose a candidate for the Presidency from the opposing political field.

This is the minimum requirement to form a basis of consensus on the part of Harilaou Trikoupi, who also talks about the need to choose a person who can “click” on the requirements of the institution.

It is certain that Nikos Androulakis will first wait to hear the decisions of Mr. Mitsotakis before positioning himself on the question of the Presidency. It is no coincidence that he reacted with anger to Theodoros Margaritis’ initiative to be the first to talk about Rammos’ candidacy, while the directive to PASOK officials is to avoid getting involved in nomenclature.