His decision not to be a candidate for the position of President of the Republic was announced by Christos Rammos.

Justifying his decision, Mr. Rammos mentions, among other things, that in the course of the public dialogue that followed the proposal, “micropolitical calculations and party strategies, confrontations and conflicts prevailed”.

“Furthermore, in the context of the already known from the past attempt to assassinate my character, my name began to be dragged again in passionate and abusive libels in the media and social media and non-existent scenarios were attributed to me”, he emphasizes in the his statement.

“Following this, I must, once again expressing my sincere thanks to the President of the New Left party both for the proposal and – and above all – for its reasoning above, to state that I do not wish, under these circumstances, to be candidate for the position of President of the Republic”, he concludes.

Here is his full statement:

“As has already been made public, the President of the New Left party, Mr. A. Haritsis informed me a few days ago that he intends to propose me as a candidate for the highest office of the country. I thanked him for this honorable proposal for me. I have the following to note about her:

It has never belonged to my pursuits and goals to occupy any political office, not even the (however supra-party) office of the President of the Republic. The only reason why, despite this and in principle, I accepted the controversial proposal, was the one that is included in the broader reasoning of the proposal of Mr. Grace; of a proposal that was not like the usual ones that are submitted in similar cases and which are not based on institutional considerations, but revolve around persons or are based on factional logics.

Specifically, with this proposal it was intended to give to a society disappointed and privatized after what has happened in recent years in relation to the functioning of the basic institutions of democracy and which (society), as all public opinion measurements show, has to an alarming degree, it loses its confidence in the institutions of the rule of law, the positive message that, despite this, it is worth fighting for institutional decency, for the defense of institutions and that public officials should further try to always do their duty as best as they can even in the most adverse conditions, even when they receive unfair and/or severe attacks and/or threats.

It was, in other words, a consideration concerning the public life of the country, in the aforementioned sense, which could, if given the attention it deserved, have a beneficial effect on it. Finally, it was about a reasoning which is in no way related to what concerns me, to my “vanities” or to the expectation of benefits for my person.

However, in the course of the public dialogue that followed, I found that, instead of being perceived and prevailing, the interpretation of the proposal based on its above central institutional message, which is obvious to any bona fide observer, and a constructive discussion on this should follow, petty political calculations and party strategies, confrontations and conflicts prevailed. In addition, in the context of the already known from the past attempt to assassinate my character, my name began to be dragged again in passionate and abusive libels in the media and social media and non-existent scenarios were attributed to me.

The above developments unfortunately de facto reduced the above value symbolism and seriously affected any dynamic the proposal could possibly have in society, which must be the final recipient of such institutional symbolism. Following this, I must, once again expressing my sincere thanks to the President of the New Left party both for the proposal and – and above all – for its reasoning above, to state that I do not wish, under these circumstances, to be a candidate for the position of President of the Republic.

Christos Rammos”.