PASOK party

In the high-stakes race for leadership of the socialist PASOK party, incumbent Nikos Androulakis and Athens Mayor Haris Doukas are gearing up for a decisive second round of voting this Sunday.

PASOK party leader Nikos Androulakis expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of internal party elections during an interview with Mega TV on Monday, emphasizing that he is open to holding a debate with his opponent in the second round, Athens Mayor Haris Doukas. 

Androulakis and Doukas will compete for the leadership of the socialist PASOK party next Sunday.

The leadership race in the socialist PASOK party and its implications for the center-left will dominate this week's political agenda as the party heads into a runoff election next Sunday.

Current leader Nikos Androulakis and Athens mayor Haris Doukas will compete for the leadership of the socialist PASOK party next Sunday.

In a close first round contest Sunday, Androulakis came out on top with 29.64% of the votes, with Doukas edging MP and former minister Pavlos Yeroulanos, 21.41% to 21.12%, for second place.

It is all but certain that the election for the leadership of the socialist PASOK party will be decided in a runoff.

It is also almost certain that PASOK will be the de facto main opposition to the ruling New Democracy, even though it is still lagging SYRIZA in the number of MPs, with 32 to 35. But further defections from SYRIZA could change that.

The leadership race for the opposition socialist PASOK party went underway Sunday, with voting starting at 7 a.m. at 950 polling stations across Greece.

Polls close at 7 p.m., although voting may be extended if turnout is high, especially in Athens and Thessaloniki. 

More than 167,814 citizens had voted by 2 p.m.

It has been 50 years since the founding declaration of New Democracy on October 4, 1974. The declaration was signed solely by Konstantinos Karamanlis, just two and a half months after his return to Greece, following 11 years of self-imposed “exile” in Paris. Thus, the party was established, which, along with PASOK, became the two main pillars of the post-dictatorial Greek Republic.

Developments within the main opposition SYRIZA party will be in the spotlight this week after its leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, lost a no-confidence vote over the weekend.

The tensions within the party's central committee were intense, further deepening the turmoil that has plagued SYRIZA since its resounding electoral defeat last year.

The socialist PASOK party celebrates 50 years since its foundation and, having escaped the existential danger it faced about a decade ago during the Greek debt crisis, it is breathlessly heading for an internal showdown that is absolutely certain to define its future.

A week of political tensions lies ahead with the impact of the European elections continuing to resonate across the three big political parties that failed to reach their goals.