Background
On 19 November 2017, the second round of the 2017 Greek centre-left leadership election took place, with Fofi Gennimata defeating Nikos Androulakis. [1] Political parties that took part in the elections then moved on to the founding of the Movement for Change on 16 March 2018. [2] [3]
On 7 July 2019, early elections took place, [4] in which the Movement for Change received 8,10% of the vote, along with the third place with 22 MPs. [5] The percentage was considered disappointing by the party, blaming the President for it, expressed primarily from Pavlos Geroulanos. [6] On November the 11th Congress of PASOK took place, aiming to extend the President's term till 2021, and also it was decided to combine the organs of Movement for Change with those of PASOK. [7] [8]
A conversation regarding the leadership elections started from the fall of 2020 within the Movement for Change, with Fofi Gennimata declaring that she would again stand as a candidate for them. [9] On 25 November, Nikos Papandreou, MEP candidate in the 2019 EP elections, announced his candidacy for the position, [10] but on 2 December, he suspended it. [11] On 23 January 2021, Andreas Loverdos announced his candidacy for the leadership. [12] Nikos Androulakis officially announced his candidacy in July 2021. [13] On 1 September Haris Kastanidis also announced his candidancy. [14]
On 3 October the Central Committee was convened, aiming to decide over the leadership elections. It was decided that the elections would take place on December 5, and the second round on the 12th. The candidates, according to the statute, are required to collect 5.000 movement member signatures, to get their candidacy approved. However, that was not specified at the meeting, as candidates were in disagreement. Anyone that wants to vote, can sign up as a member or a friend of the party up until the elections, paying 3 Euros in the process. [15]
On 12 October, Fofi Gennimata announced her withdrawal from the electoral process, for health reasons. [16] [17]
On 13 October, Vassilis Kegkeroglou started collecting signatures, and announced his intention to run as a candidate [18] [19] and later, Pavlos Geroulanos also announced his candidacy. [20] On 15 October, Pavlos Christidis announced his candidacy [21] and resigned as Press Representative. On the same day, the final day for collecting signatures was moved from the 15th to 21 October. [22] On 20 October, former Prime Minister, George Papandreou announced his candidacy. [23] [24] The next day, Vassilis Kegkeroglou withdrew from the electoral process, due to the candidacy of Papandreou. [25]
On 22 October, the Statute Implementation and Certification Ethics Committee of the Movement of Change, after reviewing the collected signatures, officially declared the candidates. [26]
On 25 October, the President of the Movement for Change, passed away at age 56 at Evangelismos Hospital from Cancer. [27] [28]
O 29 November, a debate took place on ERT, between five of the six candidates, while George Papandreou disagreed with the process and refused to take part. [29] Questions were taken by Giorgos Kouvaras, Tasos Pappas and Pavlos Tsimas, while Antrianna Paraskevopoulou was the moderator. [30] [31]
On 5 December, the first round of the leadership elections took place. Nikos Androulakis reached the first place, George Papandreou reached the second spot. [32] With the seond round incoming, Andreas Loverdos backed Nikos Androulakis, [33] while the other three candidates did not publicly back anyone. [34] [35] [36]
On 12 December, the second round of the leadership elections took place. Nikos Androulakis came out as the winner, defeating George Papandreou, with a percentage of 67,60%. [37]
