By Yannis Anifantis

With a special meeting of the Plenary at 11.00 in the morning, the Parliamentthe process of electing a new President of the Republic, about a month and a half before the end of her term Katerina Sakellaropoulou in the highest state office. Based on the Constitution, a maximum of five roll call votes are provided, which are carried out when each member of parliament stands up, choosing between the candidates and the “present”. In any case, today’s first vote will be inconclusive, since in order for “white smoke” to come out, the dominant candidate will have to gather at least 200 positive votes, which in this case seems unlikely. 2/3 of the total number of MPs will also be required in the second round on January 31st, while it is estimated that the third consecutive round of voting on February 6th will also prove fruitless, as none of the candidates seems to be able to gather 180 votes which are required. The Plenary of the Parliament will elect the First Citizen of the country on the 12th of the next month, when the required majority in the voting will have fallen to the absolute majority of the deputies (at least 151).

The parliamentary arithmetic produced by Tassoula

Despite the fact that a new President will not be elected today, the interest is focused on the parliamentary correlations that will arise after the position of the parties and independent MPs have been determined. The one proposed by New Democracy, Konstantinos Tasoulasit is expected that he will receive 160-162 positive votes, as in addition to the 156 members of the majority, 4 more independents will be appointed in favor of the former Speaker of the Parliament (Antonis Samaras, Marios Salmas, Pavlos Sarakis, Haris Katsivardas). Those coming from the Spartans , George Aspiotis and Michalis Gavgiotakis.

The “present” is a second force

In addition to the candidacy of Mr. Tasula, the remaining votes will be split between three more candidates ( Tasos Giannitsis, Louka Katseli, Kostas Kyriakou). However, the number of MPs estimated to show up for all nominations today will range from 49 to 56, more than any of the other three candidates running for the highest state office. Four parliamentary groups (KKE, Hellenic Solution, Freedom Sailing and Spartans) will remain in the “present” while 11 independents will also exclaim the same: Michalis Hourdakis, Evangelos Apostolakis, Ralia Christidou, Alexandros Avlonitis, Theodora Tzakri, Kyriaki Malama, Giorgos Manousos, Yiannis Dimitrokallis, Dionysis Valtogiannis, Konstantinos Floros, Iota Poulos.

However, among the nominations of PASOK and SYRIZA, Louka Katseli is expected to pass in front of him Tasso Giannitsi, as apart from the 26 MPs of Koumoundourou, the MPs of the New Left (11) will vote positively as well as the following independents: Athina Linou, Yiannis Sarakiotis, Areti Papaioannou. In Harilaou Trikoupi, expectations are lower, with the candidacy of Tasos Giannitsis not exceeding 33 MPs. In addition to the 31 PASOK MPs, the candidates will be in favor of the candidacy Baran Burhan (from PASOK) and o Petros Pappas. Questionable until now is the stance that the independent will take Rania Thraskiacoming from SYRIZA.

Her own candidate, Konstantinos Kyriakou has been proposed by Niki, who may be voted in addition to the party’s MPs and by the 5 MPs of the Spartans’ parliamentary group.