Kostas Karamanlis

Kostas Karamanlis
Kostas Karamanlis
Κώστας Καραμανλής
	Karamanlis in 2009
Prime Minister of Greece
	In office; 10 March 2004 – 6 October 2009
President	Konstantinos Stephanopoulos; Karolos Papoulias
Preceded by	Costas Simitis
Succeeded by	George Papandreou
Minister for Culture
	In office; 10 March 2004 – 15 February 2006
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Evangelos Venizelos
Succeeded by	Georgios Voulgarakis
President of New Democracy
	In office; 21 March 1997 – 30 November 2009
Preceded by	Miltiadis Evert
Succeeded by	Antonis Samaras
Leader of the Opposition
	In office; 6 October 2009 – 30 November 2009
President	Karolos Papoulias
Prime Minister	George Papandreou
Preceded by	George Papandreou
Succeeded by	Antonis Samaras
	In office; 21 March 1997 – 10 March 2004
President	Konstantinos Stephanopoulos
Prime Minister	Costas Simitis
Preceded by	Miltiadis Evert
Succeeded by	George Papandreou
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
	In office; 18 June 1989 – 22 April 2023
Constituency	Thessaloniki A
Personal details
Born	Konstantinos Karamanlis; 14 September 1956 (age 67); Athens, Greece
Political party	New Democracy
Spouse	Natasa Pazaïti (m. 1998)
Relations	Konstantinos Karamanlis (uncle); Kostas Karamanlis (cousin)
Children	2
Residence	Thessaloniki
Alma mater	University 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.