Greek president appoints senior judge as caretaker prime minister

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Greece’s president on Wednesday appointed a senior judge as caretaker prime minister in accordance with the constitution, following the failure of the New Democracy party, which won a majority in parliament in Sunday’s general elections, to form a government, according to local media.

President Katerina Sakellaropoulou appointed Ioannis Sarmas, president of the Court of Audit, as caretaker prime minister after meeting with five major political parties' leaders in parliament, public broadcaster ERT reported.

Sarmas, 66, thanked the president and stated, "It is a constitutional obligation to assume the post and my duty as a citizen."

Sarmas has been president of the Court of Auditors since Nov. 2019 and will remain as caretaker prime minister until the general election, which is scheduled to be held in the last week of June or the first week of July.

With all the votes counted on Monday, the New Democracy party won 40.79% – twice the main opposition SYRIZA’s 20.07%. Socialist PASOK came in third at 11.46%, followed by Greek Communist Party with 7.23%. The far-right, populist Greek Solution party came in fifth with 4.45%.

However, former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis returned the mandate on Monday, saying he wanted fresh polls for his New Democracy to form a single-party government.​​​​​​​

On Tuesday, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition party SYRIZA, and Nikos Androulakis, leader of the social-democratic party PASOK turned down the mandates, stressing the inability to form a coalition government.