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During the last weeks after the parliament elections in Greece, New Democracy, which remained in opposition and lost the elections with e big percentage difference, is methodically aiming for change. Fact is that on October 16 four candidates for a new leader of the party agreed and signed a document, which will change the procedure for choosing a leader  - all citizens and party members can vote.

In regards to this Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos – one of the leader candidates, stressed that “the situation of New Democracy is critical, in order to discuss how we can attract 1 300 000 people back, who we lost between 2004 and 2009.” “The goal is to open the party to the people – the friends of New Democracy and all citizens, so they can choose a leader,” added Mr. Avramopoulos.

The text was distributed by the chairman of the organizational commission and today it was published by the Greek media. The four candidates – Dimitris Avramopoulos, Dora Bakoyanni, Andonis Samaras and Panayotis Psomiadis agreed that the Statute of the party needs to be reviewed at an urgent party congress, so that citizens can vote too.

The letter also says that New Democracy leader elections need to be held the latest one month after the end of the party’s congress. The party members and all people, who want to become members will be signed up and automatically included in the online system. All, who sign up this way will be able to vote right away by showing a passport, ID or a driving license.

During the election the party members will drop their bulletins in a ballot and the bulletins will be the same number as the candidates. If a second round is needed, only those candidates will participate who received the most votes in the first round. Due to the change in election procedure new applications can be filed until October 22, 2009, which will be accompanied by 50 signatures of members-participants in the party’s congress.

While the new voting procedure was discussed, Singular Logic company, which took over the organization of the elections, announced that it is withdrawing and will not take responsibility of the electronic connection of the election centers. The reason for this is that it doesn’t want to risk its reputation, because the election rules are still not set by the party.

During this turmoil, New Democracy chairman Kostas Karamanlis went into seclusion with his family in a mountain in Northern Greece and this caused a lot of rumors. Despite the fact that the party greeted his decision to stay “neutral” the Greek press is doubting his position as a simple viewer. Mr. Karamanlis decided to rest from the stress and left for few days with his family – his wife Natasha and their two children, accompanied by a family couple, for five days in a house in Dolo Pogoniou village near to Ioanina.