Athens

A total of 27 parties and party coalitions submitted applications for participation in the June 17 elections to the Supreme Court until the expiry of the time limit anticipated by the relevant legislation (midnight on Monday May 28, 2012).

New Democracy announces list of

candidates for June 17 elections

The New Democracy party on Tuesday announced the new lists of candidates that will run for Parliament on its ticket in the June 17 elections, with 43 new additions relative to the May 6 polls. All candidates running in individual constituencies have been announced but not the candidates that will be included in the state deputy ticket.

Fourteen of the new candidates originated from the Democratic Alliance party led by Dora Bakoyannis, which aligned itself with ND in this election and suspended its operations, three switched to ND’s ranks from the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party of George Karatzaferis, five were from the Independent Greeks party and one from the Drassi party led by Stefanos Manos.

ND leader Antonis Samaras will be a candidate in both his traditional constituency in Messinia and in the greater Attica constituency.

Tsipras gives interview to

Russian television network

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) Parliamentary Group president Alexis Tsipras, in an interview with the Russian television network Vesti, stressed that the development of relations wirth Russia constitutes a priority for SYRIZA and a government of the Left.

“We believe that the discontinuation in our relations, that took place during the (George) Papandreou and (Lucas) Papademos governments, must be overcome. We intend to develop cooperation in the sectors of energy, trade, agricultural industry and tourism. I am certain that our cooperation will benefit both our countries,” Tsipras said, underlining that “the change in the direction of our foreign policy constitutes a priority for us.”

Tsipras also said “we cannot accept the antiquated doctrine that Greece belongs to the West. This slogan has been turned recently into the slogan ‘Greece was delivered to the West’, adding that “we are a country of the European Union with equal rights and commitments regarding the other member-states. But, in parallel, we are also a country that can implement an independent, dynamic and peaceful foreign policy.”

PASOK announces

candidates for June 17 polls

The PASOK party on Tuesday unveiled its updated lists of candidates running for election in individual Greek constituencies on June 17, while the party’s list of state deputies is due to be announced at the end of the week.

There are 36 new additions to the election tickets while several well-known party cadres will not be be running for election. The candidates included in the list will no longer be competing for individual votes but be elected in the order they are listed, based on each party’s election percentage.

Newcomers include the academics Lykourgos Liaropoulos in the 2nd Athens constituency and Kostas Mountakis in Hania, journalist Yiannis Kanelakis who replaces Sifis Valyrakis in the 2nd Athens constituency, lawyer Kostas Daltas in the 1st Piraeus constituency, actor Yiannis Mortzos in the 1st Athens constituency, publisher Babis Barbounakis in 1st Thessaloniki constituency and the PASOK youth group secretary Kostas Pantazis in Thesprotia.

Two former MPs, George Arvanitidis and Vassilis Gioumatzidis have asked to be placed last on the list in their respective constituencies and previous top PASOK cadres dropping out of the electoral race entirely include former Parliament president Philippos Petsalnikos, Valyrakis, Mihalis Pantoulas and Christos Katsouras.

Independent Greeks leader:

Memorandum was imposed deliberately

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos on Tuesday said that “Greece must have a government with a national purpose, a government of national cooperation based on programmes that will be tabled now”, speaking on state television channel NET, and underlined that there is no issue of New Democracy (ND) Antonis Samaras or PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos in the post of prime minister.

Kammenos cited that within the week his party will demand that the real condition of the Greek economy be made public and that the truth be told to the Greek people, given that coercive dilemmas are being put forward regarding the June 17 elections.

“Politicians who up to recently were blackmailing are now speaking of renegotiation of the Memorandum,” said Kammenos and opined that the Memorandum was imposed deliberately in order to make the Greek citizen destitute and sell off the state wealth.

Kammenos stressed that his party’s intention is to legally challenge the legal texts of the Memorandum. Moreover a committee of auditors must be set up to inspect the state finances, he said, noting that it is unethical for Greece to be borrowing via banks and paying penalty interest.

Kouvelis: ND, PASOK, SYRIZA

campaign slogans are ’empty words’

Democratic Left (DIMAR) leader Fotis Kouvelis launched a sharp attack against the three top parties that emerged from the inconclusive May 6 general elections, warning that the citizens’ agony, the exacerbation of the crisis and the lack of governance have rendered their election slogans “empty words”.

Speaking on the upcoming June 17 repeat elections, Kouvelis charged that New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras “is just now discovering that the Memorandum is not non-negotiable”, while PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos “from a zealot of the Memorandum now pretends to be its big disputer”, and Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras “has gone from unilateral abrogation of the Memorandum to its re-examination, returned to its annulment, and now is seeking a formula to conceal SYRIZA’s contradictions”.

Kouvelis said that his DIMAR party has from the beginning been telling the entire truth. “We must rid ourselves of the Memorandum step by step, salvage the salaries and pensions, and win the battle of the euro. That is why we are asking the citizens for a mandate for a solution,” he said.