ATHENS
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras nominated Tuesday an opposition figure as a presidential candidate.
Prokopis Pavlopoulos, a member of parliament from the center-right New Democracy party, will be the presidential candidate, Tsipras, who represents the leftist Syriza party in the government, announced.
The premier said in a speech in Athens to his ruling party that the new president would have to prove democratic sensitivity and display a high sense of patriotic responsibility.
Explaining the candidacy of Pavlopoulos, Tsipras said it was done in consultation with the Independent Greeks, or Anel, for a wider consensus that is needed to cope with the difficulties of the country.
He said Pavlopoulos was a personality with "proven democratic sensibility," who enjoyed widespread acceptance in society and the parliament.
George Kratsas, lawyer and political commentator, told The Anadolu Agency that Tsipras was forced to choose a center right candidate instead of somebody from his own leftist party to satisfy his right wing coalition partner, Anel, even though the choice might not satisfy everyone.
Kratsas added that the excuse to announce Pavlopoulos as a candidate was that he was a famous constitutional expert.
Pavlopoulos was born in 1950 and studied law at the University of Athens. He has a Ph.D. in public law and served as minister of interior, public administration and decentralization between 2004 and 2007, and minister of interior from 2007 to 2009.
Tsipras also said that although Greece’s economic problems remain unresolved after three weeks of his government, the citizens of the country no longer felt humiliated.
"Greece cannot be treated as a colony and Greeks like pariahs," he added. He assured that the country would get out of the trap of austerity measures imposed by the troika -- the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund.
He also slammed German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble for his recent remarks criticizing the Greek people. Tsipras said that Schaeuble "should feel sorry for the people who walk with the heads down and not for those who hold their heads up high."
The vote for the election of the new president will take place at the parliament at 7.30 p.m. Wednesday.
Pavlopoulos needs the votes of 180 deputies from the 300-strong chamber to be elected as president.
Also, the To Potami party nominated an Athens-based law professor, Nikos Alivizatos, for the presidency.
The current president of Greece is Karolos Papoulias.
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