George Souflias, a historic figure of Greece’s New Democracy party, has died at the age of 85.

He served for many years as a senior minister in ND governments and ran for the party leadership in 1996 against Miltiadis Evert and again in 1997 against Kostas Karamanlis.

He retired from politics in 2009, despite being re-elected as an MP for New Democracy in Larissa, and has since lived a private life. In recent years, he had been facing several health problems.