Kyriakos Mitsotakis to renew New Democracy party

12/01/2016 Politics , Top Stories

Mitsotakis is planning on carrying out a number of changes within the party, following his election on Sunday

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Newly elected New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a message of renewal during the hand-over ceremony at the party offices yesterday.

Mitsotakis is planning on carrying out a number of changes within the party, following his election on Sunday.

According to the final results, of the 334,750 party members who voted in the second round, Mr. Mitsotakis received 173,297 (52.43%) of the vote, while Mr. Meimarakis received 157,224 (47.57%) of the vote. The new party leader is reportedly going to announce an extraordinary party conference for the 26th of February.

Official handover ceremony

The official handover ceremony took place at noon on Monday, with the outgoing provisional leader Yannis Plakiotakis calling for unity and support. Mr. Meimarakis contacted his opponent in the electoral race and congratulated on his win and wished him well.

The new party leader was also congratulated by the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, his father and former PM Konstantinos Mitsotakis, former PM Kostas Karamanlis, his sister Dora Bakoyanni and the head of the River Stavros Theodorakis, among others.New Democracy (ND) parliamentary group will probably convene on Thursday, its newly elected leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said to journalists.

The first change came with the appointment of Nikos Papathanasis as the conservative party’s new director, while journalist and political scientist Makarios Lazaridis will be Mr. Mitsotakis’ press office director.

Key roles for liberal MPs

Adonis Georgiadis, who was also a candidate in the election and pledged his support to Mr. Mitsotakis after the first round, will have a greater role in the party and may be appointed as New Democracy’s spokesperson in Parliament.

A number of other MPs with a ‘liberal’ profile such as Makis Voridis, Kostis Hatzidakis, Lefteris Avgenakis, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and Yannis Kefalogiannis are also expected to become more prominent and assume key roles.

It remains to be seen what will happen with Andreas Papamimikos, who will carry on serving as party secretary at least until the upcoming extraordinary conference, which may take place at some point in April.

Deep roots in society

Mitsotakis thanked Ioannis Plakiotakis, who served as interim leader after the resignation of former interim president and Mitsotakis opponent Evangelos Meimarakis, for his work and added that the party has deep roots in society.

He also called Vangelis Meimarakis a friend and congratulated him for the fight he gave and noted that he would need him next to him as a valuable partner.

Mr. Mitsotakis also referred to the other two candidates of the first round of elections, Apostolos Tzitzikostas and Adonis Georgiadis, stating that “We will all move forward, together, with Apostolos Tzitzikosta and Adonis Georgiadis, with the 400,000 members of the party”.

Closing the circle of populism

As he explained, voters gave a clear mandate to proceed to party’s renewal, while the party continues to be united. “Together we move forward leaving behind what divides us,” he said.

“We will renew New Democracy with respect to its history and based on the present needs. It is our duty for New Democracy to become the great centre-right party and to close the circle of populism. No one is redundant, but the party needs widening,” Mitsotakis underlined.

The New Democracy president, a 47-year reformist lawmaker and scion of one of Greece’s most influential political families and son of former PM Konstantinos Mitsotakis, is expected to pile pressure on 41-year-old Tsipras ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote on pension reform, as part of the first review of the country’s bailout programme.

Source: http://www.tornosnews.com