Just moments earlier, former New Democracy Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos was nominated for the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Pavlopoulos may be elected on the first ballot, which according to the Greek Constitution requires 180 votes. Apart from the coalition government partners, SYRIZA and Independent Greeks (ANEL), New Democracy also expressed support of his nomination. According to Tsipras, the broadest possible consensus is needed to overcome the country’s difficulties. “We live the birth of a new era. Today, more than ever, unity in society, politics and states is necessary,” the Greek Premier highlighted.
Who is Prokopis Pavlopoulos?
Sixty-four-year-old Pavlopoulos was born in Kalamata and attended the Law School of the University of Athens in 1968. In addition, he studied law at Universite de Paris II on a French Government scholarship and was awarded his postgraduate studies Diplome d’ etudes approfondies (DEA) in 1975 and his doctorate in Public Law in 1977 with honorable mention. From 1978 to 1979 he served his military service in Greece. He was elected a Lecturer at the University of Athens in 1980 and was promoted to Reader in 1981. In 1983, he became Assistant Professor and was later promoted to Associate Professor in 1986. In 1989, he was elected Professor of Administrative Law.
In 1974, he was appointed as secretary of Greek President Michail Stasinopoulos. He first served as an Alternate Minister for the Presidency from November 1989 to April 1990 and was also the spokesperson of Xenophon Zolotas all-party government. From 1990 to 1995 he was the legal adviser of President Konstantinos Karamanlis. He was elected as MP for the New Democracy party in the 1996 parliamentary election. He was appointed as New Democracy’s Press and Information Spokesman by party President Miltiadis Evert on April 1996. In 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012, he was nominated and elected as MP representing the Athens First Electoral Constituency. He became New Democracy’s Parliamentary Spokesman in April 2000. Following the March 2004 general elections — won by New Democracy — Pavlopoulos became Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization Minister in the new government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis on March 10, 2004. Following the 2007 general elections, won again by New Democracy, the Interior Ministry merged with the Public Order Ministry, of which Pavlopoulos became Minister.
Pavlopoulos is a member of New Democracy’s Central Committee and in 2004 was designated as a member of the party’s Political Council, as one of seven MP candidates.
He is married to Vlassia Pavlopoulou-Peltsemi and has two daughters and one son.
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