Greece Elected an Environmentalist as Its First Woman President

Why Global Citizens Should Care Greece just elected its first woman president. Top judge Katerina Sakellaropoulou, 64, won with an overwhelming majority and received 261 votes from members of parliament out of 300 seats on Wednesday, according to CNN. Sakellaropoulou, who became the first woman president of the Council of State, Greece’s top administrative court in 2018, chairs an environmental law society and is known to advocate for refugee rights. Sakellaropoulou’s ability to unite opposing parties is being seen as a turning point for the country, which has suffered political and economic turmoil since 2010. “Let’s not hide from the truth, Greek society is still marked by discrimination against women,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said when he submitted his vote for Sakellaropoulou in early January. “This now changes, starting from the top.” The ruling conservative New Democracy party elected Sakellaropoulou, but she received support from the main opposition party Syriza, and the center-left Movement for Change, as well. Sakellaropoulou will succeed Prokopis Pavlopoulos when his five-year term expires in March. Some view Sakellaropoulou’s win as a response to growing criticism about the lack of women in Mitsotakis’s current cabinet. Compared to other European countries, Greece is far behind […]

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