Nikos Konstantopoulos
Encyclopedia
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament
Hellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
and former president of the left-wing Synaspismos.
Born in 1942 in the village of Krestena
Krestena
Krestena is a town in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andritsaina-Krestena, of which it is the seat of administration....
, near Olympia
Olympia, Greece
Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
, Konstantopoulos studied law in the University of Athens. During his period as a law student he became actively involved in the student movement as a member of the Center Union
Center Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
.
During the Greek military junta of 1967-1974
Greek military junta of 1967-1974
The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...
, his ideas became more radical. He was a member of the Democratic Defense
Democratic Defense
Democratic Defense was one of the many anti-dictatorial struggle groups that fought against the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. It evolved from the "Alexandros Papanastasiou" political research group in 1967, as a response to the regime....
anti-junta resistance group. He was arrested, tortured and sentenced in 8 years of imprisonment by the regime in 1970. After the restoration of democracy
Metapolitefsi
The Metapolitefsi was a period in Greek history after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that includes the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship to the Greek legislative elections of 1974 and the democratic period immediately after these elections.The long...
in 1974, Konstantopoulos joined the movement for the abolishment of the monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
in the country, a goal succeeded through the 1974 referendum
Greek plebiscite, 1974
The Greek plebiscite of December 8, 1974, resulted in the final abolition of the monarchy in Greece and the establishment of the current Third Hellenic Republic....
.
Ηe was charter member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
(PASOK) in 1974. One year later, he was expelled due to his disagreement with the party's leader, Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
. Together with professor Sakis Karagiorgas, a partner from the resistance, he founded a party called Socialist March (Greek: Σοσιαλιστική Πορεία), which he served as spokesman from 1975 to 1979. He took part in the 1977 general election
Greek legislative election, 1977
In the Greek legislative election, 1977, Prime Minister, Constantine Karamanlis, called for early elections. His party, New Democracy, suffered a significant loss of power, but, nevertheless, Karamanlis managed to secure an absolute majority in the Parliament. The big surprise was the success of...
as a member of the short-lived Socialist March within the Alliance of Progressive and Left-Wing Forces (Greek: Συμμαχία των Αριστερών και Προοδευτικών Δυνάμεων).
He became a founding and leading member of Synaspismos in 1989. In the same year, he was elected member of the parliament and served as Minister for the Interior in the coalition government of Tzannis Tzannetakis
Tzannis Tzannetakis
Tzannis Tzannetakis was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989.-Biography:Tzannetakis was born in Gytheio in the region of Mani in 1927...
, New Democracy
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
. This unusual left-conservative alliance, plus the fact that Konstantopoulos was one of the prosecution lawyers in the trials of Andreas Papandreou and many others of his former PASOK companions, made Synaspismos and personally Konstantopoulos targets of severe criticism.
In the 1993 general election
Greek legislative election, 1993
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on October 10, 1993. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek parliament, the Voule.The Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papandreou, was elected, defeating the conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis.-Results:...
, the failure of Synaspismos to pass the 3 per cent threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
in order to enter the parliament was a near disaster for the party. Maria Damanaki
Maria Damanaki
Maria Damanaki is a Greek politician, former president of the Synaspismos party of the radical left and currently a state member of the Hellenic Parliament within the Panhellenic Socialist Movement ....
, who was then the president of Synaspismos, resigned from her position, and Konstantopoulos was elected as the party leader. He soon became very popular, being among the top in opinion polls. In the 1996 election
Greek legislative election, 1996
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on 22 September 1996. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek Parliament.The ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Costas Simitis, was elected, defeating the liberal-conservative New Democracy party of Miltiadis Evert.-Results: rowspan=2...
, Synaspismos re-entered the parliament with a percentage of 5.2 percent countrywide, a success credited to a large extent to Konstantopoulos himself.
In the 2004 general election
Greek legislative election, 2004
Legislative elections were held in Greece on March 7, 2004. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek Parliament, the Vouli . The New Democracy Party of Kostas Karamanlis won a decisive victory in the elections, ending eleven years of rule by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement .PASOK was led into the...
, Synaspismos narrowly escaped from being excluded from the parliament again, acquiring 3.2 percent at a national level, despite the fact it had formed an alliance with other minor parties of the Greek left. This alliance became inactive in a few months' time, failing to participate united in the same year's European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2004 (Greece)
The European Parliament election of 2004 in Greece for the election of the delegation from Greece to the European Parliament took place on June 13. The election system used in Greece was a party-list proportional representation with a 3% threshold for any party...
. Konstantopoulos received criticism from both his party's members and his left allies for the two consecutive failures, and announced that he would retire as president at the next Synaspismos congress. The Synaspismos congress of December 2004 elected Alekos Alavanos
Alekos Alavanos
Alekos Alavanos is a Greek politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament, former member of the European Parliament. From 2004 until 2008 he was president of the Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology, commonly known as Synaspismos...
as the party president.
Konstantopoulos has also worked as a lawyer, specializing in various issues of institutional reforms, law modernization, criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
and the defence of civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
.
In 2010 he was elected as the president of Panathinaikos F.C.