The debate on the motion of no-confidence against the government, tabled by PASOK and co-signed by SYRIZA, New Left, Eleftherias Eleftherias and KKE, is now entering the final straight.
The three-day debate concludes today with the statements of the political leaders (in reverse order of the parliamentary strength of the parties) and the speech of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. A roll-call vote will follow.
Zoe Konstantopoulou is currently on the podium, having caused a change in the order of the political leaders’ statements earlier due to an impediment, and has finally taken the floor with a large pile of papers.
Watch live the debate in the Parliament:
Why the KKE and New Left MPs were absent during Konstantopoulou’s speech
KKE and New Left MPs were not inside the plenary in a move that could be interpreted as a silent protest.
According to reports, the reason for the absence of the KKE MPs was twofold.
On the one hand, MPs wanted to express their displeasure at the constant interventions of the president of the Electoral Platform since, they say, she does not respect her colleagues in the House as she interrupts and shouts.
However, they point out that the KKE MPs were at the LARCO workers’ demonstration that is simultaneously taking place at Syntagma.
On the other hand, the absence of the New Left MPs was no coincidence either, as there was reportedly dissatisfaction with what they say is degenerating under the responsibility of Konstantopoulou.
At the same time, they claim that the reason Alexis Haritsis delayed his speech was because he was called to speak in haste because Mrs Konstantopoulou had not gone to her turn to speak.
Constant interruptions, Constantopoulou’s impediment and Haritsis’s delay due to traffic
It is recalled that earlier the procedure of the motion of no confidence took on the dimensions of a travesty with the Bureau of the Parliament being forced into continuous interruptions as the presidents of the Eleftherias and New Left Party, Zoe Konstantopoulou and Alexis Haristis, respectively, declared their inability to attend the scheduled time and speak.
It should be noted that the two leaders are co-signatories of the anti-government motion and while the time of the start of the political leaders’ meeting was known early on, they were absent from the parliament.
It is recalled that the proceedings were scheduled to open with the speech of Mrs. Zoe Konstantopoulou and following the order of the parliamentary strength of the parties to close with the Prime Minister’s statement.
However, the president of the Electoral Platform for Freedom declared an obstacle to speak before 6 pm.
In the end, the leaders of the Victory and Spartan parties agreed to start the proceedings with their own statements followed by Mrs Konstantopoulou’s speech despite the fact that they have more MPs.
The president of the New Left, Alexis Haritsis, took the floor shortly before 17:20 and remained on the podium until 18:05 with the Bureau allowing him to violate his 20-minute allotted time as the absence of the president of the Eleftherias Party continued.
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Finally, Mr Charitsis stepped down from the podium at approximately 18:05 and the Bureau was forced to adjourn again until the arrival of Mrs Konstantopoulou as the President of Hellenic Solution, Kyriakos Velopoulos, announced that he would not concede his turn.
“At the request of Mrs Konstantopoulou, we had agreed to have her speak at 6. I am sorry for what has happened.
There were objective difficulties and the debate was disrupted. We will interrupt again for a very few minutes until Mrs Konstantopoulou arrives,” Olga Gerovassilis said.
