Greeks Elect New President : But Parliamentary Foes Contest Vote

Supreme Court Judge Christos Sartzetakis, the handpicked candidate of Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, was elected president of Greece on Friday by a single controversial vote that was immediately challenged as unconstitutional by opponents who said they will not recognize his right to office.

In a raucous session of the 300-member Greek Parliament, Sartzetakis squeaked by with 180 votes, exactly the three-fifths majority needed to elect him for a five-year term.

The deciding vote, cast by acting President Yannis Alevras was challenged by the opposition New Democracy Party, which called the election result invalid. Alevras, a leading member of Papandreu’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement, was the Speaker of Parliament before being temporarily elevated to the post of acting president after the surprise resignation of President Constantine Karamanlis three weeks ago.

New Democracy, backed by several constitutional legal experts, complained that, as acting chief of state, Alevras must surrender his right to vote in Parliament, but Papandreou rammed through a special parliamentary measure last week that declared he had the right to vote.

Cries of “shame, shame,” roared from the ranks of New Democracy as the acting president cast his blue ballot signifying a yes vote for Sartzetakis. Socialist and Communist deputies responded with cheers and applause.

Blue Yes, White No

The colored ballots, blue for affirmative and white for negative, also were protested on the constitutional ground that they violated the secrecy of the vote. Papandreou ordered the colored ballots to enforce party discipline after two still unidentified Socialist deputies broke ranks in an earlier vote two weeks ago.

Papandreou said, “It is unacceptable . . . for such a vote to be secret.”

When opposition deputies cried out “That’s what the constitution calls for,” the sometimes fiery Socialist leader shot back, “The constitution was a one-party constitution of New Democracy.”

Papandreou has proposed a series of constitutional amendments sharply curtailing the powers of Greece’s largely ceremonial president.

Ironically, the two Socialist defectors apparently managed to slip in negative or invalid votes again despite the telltale blue ballots that were clearly visible as members dropped them into the box, according to voting analysts who said they were among six invalid votes cast.

Papandreou mustered 163 of his 165 Socialist deputies, 13 Communists and four independents to support Sartzetakis.

‘Dear Personal Friend’

One independent deputy who said he was a “dear personal friend” of Sartzetakis, former Prime Minister Panayotis Canellopoulos, said that he was casting a negative vote because he thought the choice should be left to a new Parliament with a fresh mandate.

Papandreou, who left immediately after the balloting for the European Economic Community summit meeting in Brussels, said he is “enthusiastic about the results,” and added a warning to his opponents that Greece will not “tolerate the undermining of democratic institutions.”

Opposition leader Constantine Mitsotakis said that “New Democracy does not consider the vote of Mr. Alevras as valid and therefore we do not consider Mr. Sartzetakis as being elected president.”

He called for immediate general elections, but Papandreou, whose four-year mandate expires in October, rejected the call and said his government will decide on “an appropriate time for taking recourse in the popular verdict.”

Meanwhile, there was some mystery concerning the feelings of the disputed president-elect about his narrow victory. Sartzetakis has avoided the press and made no public statements since his unsought nomination three weeks ago, when Papandreou withdrew his promised support of Karamanlis for a new term of office and stunned the nation by picking the judge for the role.

Man of Iron Integrity

Friends describe Sartzetakis as a man of iron integrity and have speculated that he might decline the office if his election raised constitutional questions. There were unconfirmed reports that he had written to Papandreou, saying that if the election was decided by Alevras’ controversial vote, he would not accept the result.

But after formally notifying Sartzetakis of his election Friday night, acting Speaker of Parliament Michael Stephanides said, “We have his confirmation that he will serve the nation and the people loyally and democratically.”

Sartzetakis is scheduled to be sworn in as chief of state in a ceremony tonight, for which Papandreou plans to return from Brussels.

The president-elect is well known to Greeks and to international film audiences for his investigation and prosecution of the killers of leftist Greek deputy Gregoris Lambrakis, assassinated in 1963 after a political rally. The story of his investigation which linked senior officers of the government of then Prime Minister Karamanlis to the killing, was recounted in the award-winning film “Z” by the director Costa-Gavras, starring actor Jean-Louis Trintignant as Sartzetakis.

Political commentators were uncertain what effect the disputed presidential election will have other than to make the normally turbulent Greek political scene even stormier as general election time approaches.