In the presence of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the Greek Parliament of the K’ Parliamentary Period of Presidential Democracy, which emerged from the national elections of 25 June, is sworn in today.
The solemn inaugural session of the new Parliament will be convened at 11:00 in the morning, chaired by the First Vice President of the previous Parliament Nikitas Kaklamanis, assisted by the four temporary Secretaries, who are the youngest MPs of the first two parties in parliamentary power.
Mr.Kaklamanis will first read the Agenda, place on the Minutes the names of the 300 elected MPs, and announce to the House the letters of the political leaders on the selection of one of the three seats to which they were elected.
Immediately afterwards, Mr.Kaklamanis will invite the temporary First Secretary of the Parliament to accompany Archbishop Ieronymos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, at the head of a delegation of members of the Holy Synod, to the plenary hall to perform the traditional consecration.
Mr.Kaklamanis will then invite the MPs who wish to come and, in the presence of the Archbishop and his Archpriestly entourage, to take the oath provided for by Article 59 of the Constitution, which is as follows:
«I swear in the name of the Holy and Sovereign and Indivisible Trinity to be faithful to the Fatherland and the democratic constitution, to obey the Constitution and the laws and to perform my duties conscientiously».
The Archbishop will conclude the ceremony, sign the relevant Minutes, and the temporary First Secretary of the House will be called by the presiding officer to dismiss the High Priests from the Chamber.
Mr.Kaklamanis will then invite Muslim MPs to swear an oath in the Koran, followed by those MPs who want to take a political oath.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the members of the Cabinet, who are also MPs, will be sworn in from the ministerial benches.
The First Vice-President of the Parliament will close the sitting, calling on Parliament to authorise the Bureau to ratify the Minutes and asking them, on the following day, Tuesday 4 July, in accordance with the Agenda, to come forward for the election of the President of the Parliament.
Before leaving, Members will sign their oath of office and receive the relevant documents to complete the swearing-in procedure.
The President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou will attend the swearing-in ceremony from the front row of the seats in the Plenary, where she will be received by the President of the Parliament Konstantinos Tasoulas. The other seats will be taken by former Prime Ministers, former Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament, senior judges and officials who wish to attend. In an additional row of seats, under the dignitaries' benches, representatives of foreign churches will also sit.
Many ambassadors and diplomatic delegations of foreign states in Athens have been invited to the solemn session of the swearing-in of the deputies and will be present in the diplomatic gallery, as they have informed us.
Election of the President of the Parliament
On Tuesday morning, the Parliament will meet to elect the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament and then the Vice-Presidents, Deans and Secretaries, according to the proposals of their parliamentary groups.
Initially, the meeting will be chaired by the interim First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Nikitas Kaklamanis. He will announce the letters of the chairmen of the parliamentary groups regarding the persons they propose for the new Speaker of the Parliament as the submission of a nomination by a candidate is not admissible.
The leader of the New Democracy party and president of the first party in parliamentary power Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a letter to the Parliament, has announced that he proposes the current Speaker of the Parliament Konstantinos Tasoulas for the position. The new Speaker of the Parliament will be elected by roll call vote and is required to receive an absolute majority of the total number of MPs. If 151 positive votes are not obtained, the vote will be repeated and the person who receives the most votes will be elected.
Mr.Kaklamanis will announce the result of the vote and invite the new President of the Parliament to immediately take the seat, where he will make a speech. The Plenary will then adjourn for a few minutes and resume under the chairmanship of the new President of the Parliament for the successive votes for the election of the 10 Vice-Presidents of the Parliament. The first three vice-presidents will be from the parliamentary group of the New Democracy and one from the other parties to form the proportional representative bureau of the Parliament. The election of the vice-presidents of the Parliament shall be by a relative majority. However, each must receive at least 70 positive votes to be elected.
The vote of confidence in the new government by the Parliament on Saturday
On Thursday, July 6, the three-day debate on the programmatic statements of the new government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis will begin in the plenary session of the Parliament. After the end of the debate on the programmatic statements, on Saturday 8 July, the new government will ask for the vote of confidence of the Parliament.
The debate will begin with the reading of the government's Programme Statements by the Prime Minister. The debate will be attended by the members of the new government, the chairmen of the parliamentary groups, parliamentary representatives and MPs from all wings of Parliament.
The vote on the vote of confidence in the government will be by roll call and will take place as soon as the debate on the programme statements has ended and no later than the twelfth night of the third day after the beginning of the debate, i.e. on Saturday, 8 July 2023. The Government shall enjoy the confidence of the House if the motion of confidence is approved by an absolute majority of the Members of Parliament present, which may not be less than two-fifths (120) of the total number of Members of Parliament.
Jo. Apergis - P. Dimitropoulos
