Candidates for new center-left party to meet again in TV debate

As the nine candidates for a new center-left party prepared to cross swords in the second round of a televised debate on Monday night, directions were published online regarding the voting procedure.

According to the announcement on the website of the Independent Authority for Procedures & Ethics (www.dpekloges.gr), the first round of elections will be held on Sunday, November 12, with the second round, in the event that none of the candidates musters a 51 percent majority, to take place a week later on Sunday, November 19. Only voters who cast a ballot in the first round can do so again in the second.

The candidates are Nikos Androulakis, Constantinos Gatsios, Fofi Gennimata, Giorgos Kaminis, Yiannis Maniatis, Apostolos Pontas, Yiannis Ragousis, Stavros Theodorakis and Dimitris Tziotis. Odysseas Constantinopoulos has announced that he won’t be running due to health problems.

Polling stations will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in a selected number of public buildings, such as schools and community centers, that are also used in general elections, though the exact addresses will not be announced until three days before the vote at the latest.

Voters must already be on the national electoral register and will have to pay a 3-euro participation fee that will go towards covering the cost of the process. They can choose one candidate from the list of nine, by marking their preference with a cross.

Every voter will be registered on two lists: one on participation, which will be destroyed two months after the elections take place, and the second on individuals who want to be considered members of the new party and have a say in its foundation.