PM uses tactics in debate on constitutional review

In what was seen as a tactical maneuver, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday that he will back incumbent President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in 2020 and called on New Democracy to do the same. 

Tsipras announced his intention to back Pavlopoulos for a second term during the debate in Parliament on the constitutional review. 

His decision came on the heels of ND's stated intention to back, in principle, SYRIZA's proposal that the president should be elected by the people, on the condition that the next Parliament is not bound to do so - keeping in line with ND's position that the content of any revision of the Constitution must not bind the next Parliament. 

According to Tsipras, Mitstotakis's sole aim is to impose his will if he forms a government. This includes the election of the president with a simple majority of 151 if two previous parliamentary votes...