Finding a new President for Greece

With the term of the current President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, coming to an end on 13th March, the process of finding the right candidate for the next 5-year term has begun. In principle any party in Parliament can propose a candidate; a series of votes is then taken in Parliament with the aim of whittling down the field until a winner is found. Each vote takes place 6 days after the previous one, and for the first two votes a two-thirds majority is required to declare a winner, on the third vote a three-fifths majority, on the fourth an absolute majority (i.e. 151 votes) and on the fifth a simple majority of the votes cast. The votes in the current election are scheduled for the 25th and 31st of January, and the 6th, 12th and 18th of February.

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Celebrating the 110th anniversary of Crete’s union with Greece

On Friday 1st December the Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and the deputy minister for Climate Change and Civil Protection Evangelos Tournas, representing the government, were in Chania for the ceremonies marking the 110th anniversary of the union of Crete with Greece. Also present were the Regional Governor of Crete Stavros Arnautakis, the Deputy Regional Governor for Chania Nikos Kalogeris, Chania MPs Sevi Voloudaki, Dora Bakogianni and Alexandros Makrogiannakakis, and representatives of the Armed Forces. The occasion was organised by the Regional Unit of Chania, the Municipality of Chania and the National Foundation “Eleftherios K. Venizelos”.

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