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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-08-27
CONTENTS
[01] Popular Unity leader Lafazanis returns exploratory mandate
[01] Popular Unity leader Lafazanis returns exploratory mandate
ANA-MPA -- Reaching the end of a three-day exploratory mandate to form
a coalition government, Popular Unity leader Panagiotis Lafazanis on
Thursday handed it back and informed President of the Republic Prokopis
Pavlopoulos that he had been unsuccessful in his bid. As he left the
presidential mansion, Lafazanis repeated demands that elections should
not be held earlier than September 27 and that Pavlopoulos convene a
political leaders' council.
In statements he stressed that the president's job was to protect
the letter and spirit of the Constitution and especially the ability
of the Greek people to vote freely and be fully informed. "It is a
provocation to rush to elections," he added, noting that the time
periods foreseen by the Constitution must be fully exhausted and
that elections must not be held earlier than September 27. "It is the
president's responsibility to rise to this democratic challenge. He will
be responsible if he does not and - if he does not - we will be forced
to make statements that we would not like to make," Lafazanis said.
Earlier, responding to Lafazanis' demands, the president agreed that
"no state official was above the Constitution" and assured him that both
the letter and spirit of the Constitution will be observed, "especially
in accordance to the generally established practice, mutatis mutandis
given the current circumstances." He assured Lafazanis that he will
fully observe the relevant Constitutional articles and inform him over
the phone. "I would like to believe that, regardless of the result of
these processes that I will follow and when we reach elections, these will
take place in an atmosphere that befits Greece's political culture, the
crucial nature of events and the expectations of the Greek people," the
president said. Replying, Lafazanis noted that the "greatest deviations,
unconstitutional and anti-democratic, are committed in the name of
observing the Constitution and democracy." He insisted on the need for
a political party leaders' council, noting that "the Constitution does
not refer to telephone calls." "The Constitution speaks of a meeting of
state factors in person. If all this were to be replaced by the telephone,
I think we would be making a big mistake," he added.
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