After the coalition’s decision to speed up the process for election of president of the Hellenic republic, several names of possible candidates have been leaked to the Press. However, the government has not made any official announcement regarding the alleged candidates. Greek MPs will vote for president of the republic on December 17. If the candidate fails to receive 200 votes, there will be a repeat election on December 23. in the second ballot the candidate needs 200 votes to be elected. If he or she does not receive them, there will be a third and final vote, but this time only 180 votes will suffice for his or her election. If the third ballot fails to elect president, Greece will have to go to national elections so the new president will be elected from the new parliament. The term of President of the Hellenic Republic Carolos Papoulias ends in February. Allegedly, national elections date will be Januray 25, 2015. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Vice President Evangelos Venizelos want to go to the European Summit on December 18 after the first ballot. In the European Summit, Greece and its creditors will sign the agreement for the extension of the bailout program. The coalition wants to use the possibility that the troika will have to negotiate with the new government as a negotiation tool. At the same time, Samaras and Venizelos want to give en end to the climate of political instability that hinders negotiations. The alleged names of candidates include European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, former defense minister; philanthropist Marianna Vardinogiannis; Nobel Prize nominee Doctor of Physics Dimitris Nanopoulos; former European commissioner and New Democracy Vice President Stavros Dimas; former minister Yiannis Varvitsiotis; former interim prime minister Panayiotis Pikramenos; former minister Alekos Papadopoulos; acclaimed film director Costas Gavras and President of the European Court of Justice Vasilis Skouris. Analysts say that the most possible candidacy will be that of Stavros Dimas, who allegedly met with the Greek premier this morning.
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