A meeting between current New Democracy leader and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and former New Democracy leader and Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis took place yesterday at a central Athens restaurant. The two men arrived at the restaurant from different entrances at around 2 p.m. This was their first public meeting since the elections of 2009. The purpose of their meeting was to give a message of unity to all New Democracy voters and to discuss the upcoming President of the Hellenic Republic election as well. During their meeting, that lasted approximately one hour, all political issues and developments regarding the economy were discussed. The two men agreed that the country should avoid early elections, but in order to avoid such an event, the candidate proposed for the position of the President of the Republic must attract 180 parliamentarian votes. Sources note that Samaras asked Karamanlis to discuss this issue with MPs that are under his influence within the party. Rumors that Karamanlis was interested in becoming a candidate for the President of the Republic position were dismissed, as he restated that he will be an MP candidate in the first prefecture of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece as in previous elections.