STORY: Constantine Tassoulas elected as Greece's new president
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: Feb. 13, 2025
LENGTH: 00:01:13
LOCATION: Athens
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Greek Parliament
2. SOUNDBITE (Greek): CONSTANTINE TASSOULAS, Greece's new president
3. various of the Greek Parliament
4. various of Constantine Tassoulas

STORYLINE:

Constantine Tassoulas, former speaker of the Greek Parliament, was elected as the country's new president on Wednesday.

SOUNDBITE (Greek): CONSTANTINE TASSOULAS, Greece's new president
"The President of the Republic, as the regulator of the political system, remaining outside and distant from any partisan competition, operating within the defined framework of their constitutional role, and occasionally highlighting the need to safeguard this invisible thread that, in the great and significant matters, never ceases to unite us."

Tassoulas, the nominee of the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party, secured 160 votes in the fourth round of voting, the same as in the previous rounds. The other three candidates each received fewer than 50 votes.

A total of 276 members of parliament took part in Wednesday's vote. Under the Greek Constitution, a candidate needs at least 151 votes in the 300-member assembly to win the presidency in the fourth round, a threshold lowered from 180 votes in the third round and 200 votes in the first two rounds held over the past three weeks.

Tassoulas, a seasoned politician from the ND party, served as Minister of Culture and Sports in 2014 and has been elected Speaker of the Greek Parliament three times by a large majority since 2019.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Athens.
(XHTV)