Nikos Konstantopoulos (; born 8 June 1942 in

Krestena Krestena ( el, Κρέστενα) is a town and a community 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. Krestena is situated i ...

Elis Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...

) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

politician, member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the He ...

and former president of the left-wing

Synaspismos The Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology ( el, Συνασπισμός της Αριστεράς των Κινημάτων και της Οικολογίας, ''Synaspismós tīs Aristerás tōn Kinīmátōn kai tīs Oikologías''), com ...

. His daughter, Zoi, was until September 2015 the

Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament The President of the Hellenic Parliament ( el, Πρόεδρος της Βουλής των Ελλήνων) is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Greece. The president's term coincides with the term of the assembly, and is chosen by a vot ...

Biography

Born in 1942 in the village of

, near Olympia, Konstantopoulos studied law in the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

. During his period as a law student he became actively involved in the student movement as a member of the

Center Union The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a politica ...

. During the

Greek military junta of 1967-1974 The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels, . Also known within Greece as just the Junta ( el, η Χούντα, i Choúnta, links=no, ), the Dictatorship ( el, η Δικτατορία, i Diktatoría, links=no, ) or the Seven Years ( el, η Ε ...

, his ideas became more radical. He was a member of the Democratic Defense 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 in 1974, Konstantopoulos joined the movement for the abolishment of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...

in the country, a goal succeeded through the 1974 referendum. Ηe was charter member of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

(PASOK) in 1974. One year later, he was expelled due to his disagreement with the party's leader,

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...

. Together with professor

Sakis Karagiorgas Sakis is a Greek male given name, a diminutive form of names where the last consonant (consonant preceding the final "S" common in the majority of Greek masculine nouns) is "S", most commonly Athanasius or Anastasius, with the addition of the "akis ...

, 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 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 Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

in the coalition government of

Tzannis Tzannetakis Tzannis Tzannetakis ( el, Τζαννής Τζαννετάκης) (13 September 1927 – 1 April 2010) was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989. Biography Tzannetakis was born in Gythe ...

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

. 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, the failure of Synaspismos to pass the 3 per cent threshold in order to enter the parliament was a near disaster for the party. Maria Damanaki, 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, 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 2000 general election held in April, Synaspismos got 3.2 percent at a national level. In the 2004 general election held in March, 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 ("

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

") with other minor parties of the Greek left. This alliance became inactive in a few weeks' time, failing to participate united in the same year's

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

(June). 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 Alexandros 'Alekos' Alavanos ( el, Αλέκος Αλαβάνος; born 22 May 1950 in Athens) is a Greek politician, former member of the Hellenic Parliament and the European Parliament. From 2004 until 2008 he was president of the Coalition o ...

as the party president. Konstantopoulos has also worked as a lawyer, specializing in various issues of institutional reforms, law modernization,

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

and the defence of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

. In 2010, he was for a short time president of Panathinaikos F.C.

External links

Official Biography
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Konstantopoulos, Nikos 1942 births Chairpersons of Synaspismos Greek MPs 1990–1993 Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2004–2007 Living people Ministers of the Interior of Greece National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Panathinaikos F.C. presidents Politicians from Elis People from Elis