Kostas Karamanlis

Prime Minister of Greece

Konstantinos Karamanlis 14 September 1956 Athens, Greece

-

10 March 2004 – 6 October 2009

Greek politician This article is about the Prime Minister of Greece between 2004 and 2009. For his uncle, a former Prime Minister and President of Greece, see Konstantinos Karamanlis. Konstantinos A. Karamanlis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής ; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis (Greek: Κώστας Καραμανλής , pronounced  ), is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2004 to 2009. He was also president of the centre-right New Democracy party, founded by his uncle Konstantinos Karamanlis, from 1997 to 2009, and he is currently a member of the Hellenic Parliament. Karamanlis was first elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for New Democracy in 1989 and became president of the party in 1997. After leading the opposition in the Hellenic Parliament for seven years and his narrow defeat in the 2000 parliamentary election, he served as the 181st Prime Minister of Greece for two consecutive terms, winning the 2004 election, with an all-time record number of votes, and again in 2007. However, he asked for mid-term general elections in 2009, as his party enjoyed a narrow parliamentary majority that could not guarantee a stable government needed to handle the Greek financial crisis. Eventually, Karamanlis was defeated and resigned as president of New Democracy after twelve years as the party's leader, being active in politics though as a member of the parliament.