The Greek Parliament has rejected a proposal by the main opposition party SYRIZA to appoint lawmaker Elena Akrita to the position of Vice President of Parliament, following a rowdy plenary session in Athens that descended into sharp personal attacks.
Akrita failed to secure the necessary majority in the 300-seat unicameral chamber after 169 lawmakers voted present while 119 voted in favour, out of a total of 288 votes cast by members of parliament.
The vote took place within the Hellenic Parliament, Greece's supreme legislative body located at Syntagma Square, where parliamentary vice presidents are elected to represent political factions across the legislative bureau.
Controversy Over Female Representation
Before voting commenced, Course of Freedom party leader Zoi Konstantopoulou delivered a sweeping attack against both the ruling conservative party New Democracy and the center-left opposition party PASOK, accusing them of political collusion.
Konstantopoulou charged that the parliamentary majority was deliberately blocking the placement of female lawmakers in the parliament's presiding bureau by rejecting Akrita's nomination, claiming such an exclusion of women had not occurred since 1996 during the administration of former Prime Minister Costas Simitis.
New Democracy parliamentary spokesperson Notis Mitarachi rejected her accusations, describing her sudden concern for female representation as hypocritical. Mitarachi recalled that during the 2023 parliamentary vice-presidential elections, Konstantopoulou had voted exclusively for her own party's candidate, M. Chourdakis, while voting against all other nominees, including SYRIZA female lawmaker Olga Gerovasili.
Mitarachi stated that lawmakers were witnessing constitutional verbosity and rhetoric, emphasizing that members of parliament hold the full legal right to vote either in favour or present. He added that PASOK and Course of Freedom demonstrated hypocrisy, noting that PASOK had declined to back Course of Freedom's candidate in 2023 while Konstantopoulou voted against the sole female candidate proposed at the time.
Clash Over Parliamentary Rules
Earlier in the sitting, Konstantopoulou targeted the session chair, PASOK lawmaker Paris Koukoulopoulos, accusing him of protecting New Democracy by enforcing parliamentary standing orders and decisions of the Conference of Presidents that barred open debate prior to the vote on Akrita.
She declared that PASOK held direct responsibility for institutional decline as the official opposition, pointing out that the plenary chamber was largely empty while parliamentary committees met without elected chairs.
Addressing PASOK lawmaker Panagiotis Doudonis over his hand gestures, Konstantopoulou questioned why he was interrupting her, asking whether he felt entitled to disrupt her speech because she was a female party leader. She asked why only three PASOK lawmakers were present in the chamber while the government sought to deprive the bureau of its sole female candidate.
Konstantopoulou further accused PASOK of repeating tactics used by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, asserting that her own party understood its political adversaries and did not carry 600 million euros in debt or turn a blind eye to Central Bank Governor Yannis Stournaras.
Constitutional Law and Heated Verbal Exchanges
Taking the floor, Doudonis countered that the Course of Freedom leader failed to grasp PASOK's position, pointing out that constitutional law scholars unanimously agree a parliamentary majority should not dictate which minority candidates are acceptable for vice-presidential posts.
Doudonis cited previous constitutional arguments made by Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis regarding democratic order and minority rights, contrasting them with New Democracy lawmaker Makarios Lazaridis who had argued against legal scholars. He urged New Democracy to rectify its stance, comparing their selection process to a 16th century Ottoman Sultan selecting a patriarch, while noting that Konstantopoulou herself had refused to vote for any nominee outside her own party.
The exchange escalated when Konstantopoulou claimed to see proof of an underground alliance between PASOK and New Democracy, asserting that Koukoulopoulos was acting on behalf of the ruling party. Spotting Doudonis speaking with Communist Party MP Liana Kanelli, Konstantopoulou sarcastically urged him to coordinate with Kanelli, claiming the communist lawmaker had praised Dora Bakoyannis as the finest minister.
The remark prompted Kanelli to shout back at her to get out of there. Konstantopoulou continued by telling them to coordinate in order to support Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis while he was on the ropes, before mockingly calling Koukoulopoulos a worthy vice president for New Democracy.
Koukoulopoulos replied that it was unnecessary to answer her comments. When Konstantopoulou demanded that he step down from the chair, Koukoulopoulos told her to end the smart remarks and stated that he would not tolerate her conduct, leading Konstantopoulou to call him a bully as the session descended into chaos.
