ATHENS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed in a televised address on Wednesday top female judge Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou for President of the Greek Republic.
Sakellaropoulou is the first woman to become president of the Council of State, Greece's highest administrative court. If her candidacy is ratified by the Greek parliament, she will be the first woman President of the country.
Although the office of the President in Greece is ceremonial, the chosen person has to reflect the nation's unity and in this period the country's revival after the harsh years of the debt crisis, Mitsotakis said, explaining the choice of nominee from the ruling conservative New Democracy party.
"This is a proposal of unity, above parties, progressive, and meets all conditions to be approved by the entire body of MPs," he stressed in the address which was broadcast on Greek national broadcaster ERT.
Greece's current President Prokopis Pavlopoulos' five year term ends in February.
The choice for the country's highest office "honors both justice and the modern Greek woman," Sakellaropoulou said in a statement to Greek national news agency AMNA.
No date has been announced yet for the vote in parliament. Currently the ruling party holds 158 seats in the 300-member assembly.
Born in Thessaloniki in 1956, Sakellaropoulou graduated from the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1978. She has been serving as President of the Council of State since October 2018.
