By Antonis Anzoletou

The discussion about presidency of the Republic will be officially opened after the Lights, but the reality is that the party staffs are already looking to solve this difficult “equation”.

The only candidacy that has existed so far from the New Left, his Christos Rammoswas withdrawn yesterday by the president of ADAE himself with his statement. The seven persons who served the highest state institution from 1975 to today (Konstantinos Tsatsos 1975-1980, Konstantinos Karamanlis 1980-1985, Christos Sargetakis 1985-1990, Konstantinos Karamanlis 1990-1995, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos 1995-2005, Karolos Papoulias 2005-2015, Prokopis Pavlopoulos 2015-2020, Katerina Sakellaropoulou) have one thing in common: they are all graduates of the law school, each following a different professional path until assuming their duties at Herodos Attikou.

If this tradition is not “broken” and the current president of the Republic does not renew her term, one could “look” for the dominant one proposed by the majority based on his scientific training.

More specifically, six of the first citizens of the country were graduates of the law school of the University of Athens, and only Christos Sargetakis studied in Thessaloniki. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that this path has been followed, as the president of the Republic must, as the guarantor of the state, not only be an excellent connoisseur of Constitution but to have indulged in it.

The President of the Republic is called upon to ensure the smooth functioning of the state and to ensure the avoidance of situations that may lead to distortions in the constitutional order. Such situations arise mainly when there is a breakdown in the relations between the authorities. Legal knowledge is considered essential, as well as the prestige given to the institution by the status of a law school professor, constitutional expert, or supreme judge. And Michael Stassinopoulos who served as the first interim president of the Republic (December 18, 1974 – June 20, 1975) was a graduate of the law school of the University of Athens, following an academic career afterwards.

Does the legal training of the presidents so far mean that the tradition will be respected forever? No, nor that it is the criterion for choosing the next supreme statesman. However, a 50-year-old preference is captured that certainly gives an additional “bonus” to the persons who have so far fallen unofficially into the public debate. And it is no coincidence that several of them have legal knowledge. On the other hand, the tradition provided for other things that were broken along the way: from 1975 to 1990, the ruling party proposed for President of the Republic a person coming from the same ideological space. From 1995 onwards another school of thought followed where the person chosen was not associated with the majority with the aim of maximum consensus. Their two constitutional terms were exhausted by Konstantinos Karamanlis and Constantinos Stephanopoulos and Karolos Papoulias, while it remains to be clarified what will happen to Katerina Sakellaropoulou.