Papoulias hopes successor will be elected next year

Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Thursday made his most outspoken comment yet on speculation about whether the current parliament will be able to elect his successor, suggesting that he believes it is in the country’s interest for early elections to be avoided.

"I hope that even now we will be able to have the necessary majority to elect a president that will be the president of all Greeks, with the ability to unite everyone,» Papoulias said at the start of the meeting with To Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis.

"I think this is the basic and essential role of a president that does not have particular powers,» added Papoulias on his mostly ceremonial role.

Theodorakis was the fourth party leader, after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras and Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis, to hold talks with the president this week.