Former conservative prime minister Kostas Karamanlis (New Democracy – EPP) has decided not to run as a candidate for the upcoming elections putting an end to his 34-year political career. His decision sparked a debate over the impact on the elections for the ruling party.
Karamanlis served as the 10th prime minister of Greece from 2004 to 2009, and since then, he has remained an influential figure in the Greek centre-right. He is known for representing the “popular” faction of the party.
His decision to abandon politics a few months before the next general elections in Greece sparked a debate over how the ruling New Democracy party could be electorally affected.
In September 2022, Karamanlis made a public speech criticising the government about the wiretapping scandal, the so-called “Greek Watergate”, which has been shaking the country for months.
Particularly, he said if the government was behind the incident, “it is not only undemocratic and illegal but also goes beyond all limits of a morbid imagination and political stupidity that it is unthinkable”.
Karamanlis was also a victim of a bugging scandal himself when he served as prime minister.
Some analysts suggested that his decision may be a “message of discontent” toward current leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis for his handling of the wiretapping scandal and this could potentially affect the cenre-right electorate in northern Greece, where Karamanlis is coming from.
However, sources from the PM’s office told Greek media that Mitsotakis and Karamanlis had a discussion before the announcement of his departure from politics in “good atmosphere”.
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Source: euractiv.com
