A bright new day

A new leader was elected tonight for Greece's conservative New Democracy party. Antonis Samaras was my personal favorite and I am delighted by his overwhelming victory inspite of all the odds.

Born 23 May 1951, he is an MP for Messinia, Peloponnesus, Southern Greece. Messinia as well as Elis, Laconia and Arcadia offered him over 90% of their votes. As I am related to all these regions through both my paternal and maternal families, I am proud of my fellow countrymen and women. But C's paternal region of Epirus, NW Greece, also offered him a good percentage of over 60%, so well done people.

Samaras was best known for the controversy he caused in 1993, when he took a firm stand on the so-called Macedonia issue, that is the claim of the former Yugoslav state of Vardarska over the name and history of Macedonia, Greece. Samaras as a Foreign Minister rebuked the claims, fell out of favor and was removed from his post and with the MPs that took a stand and followed him, he effectively caused the New Democracy government to fall from power.

A decade later and after founding his own party that won two seats in both National and European elections, he returned to the New Democracy party and earlier this year was made Minister of Culture.  In this capacity he had the honor to inaugurate the new Acropolis Museum, a very good omen for his future.

Born in Athens, Samaras graduated from Amherst College in 1974 with a degree in economics and from Harvard University in 1976 with an MBA. He is the son of the late Dr. Constantine Samaras, Professor of Cardiology and the late Lena, née Zannas, a maternal granddaughter of my all time favorite author and long time role model Penelope Delta (pictured below with two of her three daughters)

His paternal uncle, George Samaras, was a long standing member of Parliament for Messinia in the 1950s and '60s. Samaras is married to Georgia, née Kretikos; they have a daughter, 18, and a son, 11.

It is my hope and the hope of the Greeks who voted for him that in the difficult times of turmoil that we are set to face, with bitter attacks against our country and our religion, Samaras will live up to his past and his family's history and will encourage Greeks to stand up for their ideals.

May God help him.