Kostas Karamanlis

Kostas Karamanlis
Κώστας Καραμανλής
Karamanlis in 2009
Prime Minister of Greece
In office
10 March 2004 – 6 October 2009
PresidentKonstantinos Stephanopoulos
Karolos Papoulias
Preceded byCostas Simitis
Succeeded byGeorge Papandreou
Minister for Culture
In office
10 March 2004 – 15 February 2006
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byEvangelos Venizelos
Succeeded byGeorgios Voulgarakis
President of New Democracy
In office
21 March 1997 – 30 November 2009
Preceded byMiltiadis Evert
Succeeded byAntonis Samaras
Leader of the Opposition
In office
6 October 2009 – 30 November 2009
PresidentKarolos Papoulias
Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou
Preceded byGeorge Papandreou
Succeeded byAntonis Samaras
In office
21 March 1997 – 10 March 2004
PresidentKonstantinos Stephanopoulos
Prime MinisterCostas Simitis
Preceded byMiltiadis Evert
Succeeded byGeorge Papandreou
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
In office
18 June 1989 – 22 April 2023
ConstituencyThessaloniki A
Personal details
Born
Konstantinos Karamanlis

(1956-09-14) 14 September 1956 (age 68)
Athens, Greece
Political partyNew Democracy
Spouse
(m. 1998)
RelationsKonstantinos Karamanlis (uncle)
Kostas Karamanlis (cousin)
Children2
ResidenceThessaloniki
Alma materUniversity of Athens
Tufts University

Konstantinos A. Karamanlis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis (Greek: Κώστας Καραμανλής, pronounced [ˈkostas karamanˈlis]), is a Greek retired politician who served as the 10th 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 as member of the Hellenic Parliament from 1989 to 2023.

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. On 21 February 2023, it was announced that he would not be a parliamentary candidate and that he would retire from politics after the 2023 election.