Former Conservative premier Karamanlis says will not run in elections

Former Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis announced Tuesday that he will not be running in the next general elections to be held later this year.

“I have decided that it is time for my parliamentary journey to end,” he said in a statement released to the press. “Therefore, I will not be a candidate in the upcoming elections. Obviously, I always support the New Democracy government, [and] the party founded by Konstantinos Karamanlis which I have served continuously for almost half a century.”

Mitsotakis, who sources said he spoke with Karamanlis about his decision on Monday night, thanked the former premier “for his long-term contribution to the party and the country.”

“Personally, I do not forget that under his party leadership I joined politics,” Mitsotakis said in a statement. “I know that he always has New Democracy in his heart. Much more so today, when the turning point in his own multi-year journey coincides with the opening of new and optimistic horizons for our country and our party.”

The ND deputy’s relationship with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had cooled after he called for a full disclosure in an ongoing probe into the National Intelligence Service’s (EYP) wiretaps of political officials and journalists during a speech in Crete, a comment viewed at the time as a dig at the government’s handling of the scandal. 

Karamanlis was first elected in Parliament with New Democracy for Thessaloniki in 1989, but in 2004 he became an MP for Larissa. He became party leader in 1997 following New Democracy’s defeat in the 1996 election and served as the conservative party’s premier in 2004-2009.