Greece now has a woman as head of state. The magistrate Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, 63, was elected Wednesday January 22 by a large majority president of the Hellenic Republic, becoming the first woman in the history of Greece to access this essentially honorary position.

Black hair bobbed and small round glasses, the current President of the Council of State, fervent defender of the environment, was elected in the first round of the ballot, on the proposal of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, by 261 deputies out of 300 "Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou is elected President of the Republic", declared the President of the Parliament, Costas Tassoulas, after the vote in Vouli.

This experienced judge will be sworn in on March 13, the day the mandate of her predecessor, the conservative Prokopis Pavlopoulos, ends. Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou is presented as the candidate for "unity" and "progress" by the head of the Conservative government, who skillfully chose her for this position because it transcends traditional partisan divisions.

A consensus candidate

With more than 200 votes required by the Hellenic Constitution, she was elected for a renewable five-year term by deputies of the conservative New Democracy party, Syriza, the left party of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and of the center-left movement Kinal.

No sooner did her name appear on January 15 in a solemn television address by Kyriakos Mitsotakis than the candidate immediately made consensus in a society, however singularly patriarchal, at the bottom of the European peloton in terms of parity.

"The time has come for Greece to open up to the future," pleaded the Conservative Prime Minister, who was criticized upon taking office by appointing only two women ministers to his government. "Let us not hide behind our little finger, Greek society is still marked by discrimination against women," he admitted. But "it changes now, starting at the top".

In a country where one in five women is unemployed, Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou had already opened a breach by becoming the first woman to head the country's highest court in October 2018, on the proposal of the then Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras.

"Progressive values"

"She has always vigorously served justice, the protection of individual rights and the religious neutrality of the state. Her election will reward the progressive values ​​she defended as a judge," said Alexis Tsipras, now head of the left opposition, which stood behind this rival to the right for this vote.

A graduate of constitutional law and environmental law in Athens and Paris, this judge and daughter of a judge of the Supreme Court defended the rights of refugees, minorities and civil liberties.

But above all, it has distinguished itself in environmental protection matters, while taking care to preserve investment in a Greece hit by a decade of crisis. She has also been criticized for defending a controversial investment project by a Canadian mining company in the north of the country.

In a country that is just emerging from the water, its election for a five-year term is considered an asset for the Conservative government, which is banking on green energy to turn Greece around. Without political affiliation, this feminist, divorced and mother of a child, thus passes from the highest functions of justice to those of the State.

With AFP

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