ND was in government from the middle of 2012 until the end of 2014. ND was the major party in a coalition with the once mighty Pasok. After losing the elections its leader, the former Prime Minister A.Samaras quit and the general secretary of the party Mr. E.Meimarakis became the president. His presidency was expected to be a transitional one, yet when Mr.Tsipras decided on a second election in August 2015, the leader of ND faced the unexpected challenge of becoming a candidate in the national elections. Mr.Meimarakis led his party to yet another loss and had to resign when several of his MP's started voicing their discontent for their leader.
Today was the end of the deadline for the submission of candidacy for the party elections. The actual election date is yet to be set but the new leader will be elected “from the basis” ie. the voters and friends of ND.
The candidates are three: E.Meimarakis who was the previous president, has been in the party almost his entire life and he has also served as the president for the youth organisation of ND. His simple, informal way of speaking and his political “heritage” place him in the populist right.
K.Mitsotakis is the son of Kostas Mitsotakis who has also been the president of ND as well as Prime Minister. He is also the brother of Dora Mpakoyani who is a prominent member of ND, an MP and has held ministerial positions in the past. Mr.Mitsotakis expresses neoliberal political views while his family's name is an advantage and a burden at the same time as it has avid supporters as well as strong enemies.
The third candidate is Mr. A.Tzitzikostas who is the Governor of the District of Macedonia. Mr.Tzitzikostas is also leaning towards the populist right while in the past some of his statements for the ex king of Greece as well as the Nazist party of Golden Dawn have made the leadership of his very party express its dissatisfaction. In the previous regional elections, Mr.Tzitzikostas was not officially supported by his party but he managed to win the position over the endorsed candidate in a landslide. He also comes from a family with important connections and influence in northern Greece.
There is a fourth candidate, Mr.A. Georgiadis. He has transferred to ND from a party of the extreme right (LAOS). Mr. Georgiadis' political views are an amalgam of extreme right, neoliberal, and populist right. Mr.Georgiadis has no affiliation to any kind of political “family” so he is immune to accusations about nepotism or connections which have been voiced for all the other candidates. His flamboyant personality and his constant use of the social and the mainstream media have made him highly recognizable. Mr.Georgiadis found some difficulty in gathering the fifty signatures needed from the party committee in order to be accepted as a candidate. In a highly theatrical episode he ran to the party offices delayed by eight minutes. As an immediate response the committee responsible for accepting and approving the candidacies disqualified him. All the other candidates expressed their disagreement with that decision and the committee will meet again on Saturday morning in order to finalize its decision. It is therefore highly probable that the candidates will be four rather than three.
Update: On Saturday morning the electoral committee decided to allow Mr. Georgiadis to participate in the elections.