Stelios Papathemelis ( el, Στέλιος Παπαθεμελής) (born January, 1938 in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

) 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 and lawyer. He studied law at the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

Political career

He was elected for the first time MP with EK-ND in the elections of 1974. He was re-elected with EDIK in 1977. Afterwards, he joined

PASOK 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 ...

and was appointed Deputy Education Minister in 1982-1985,

Minister for Macedonia and Thrace The Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Υφυπουργός Μακεδονίας και Θράκης) is the government minister in charge of Greece's Sub- Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace, part of the Ministry of the Interior. The de ...

in 1987-1989 and Minister for Public Order in 1993-1995. During his term as Minister of Public Order, he faced strong opposition, mainly by the owners of the night clubs and bars, for a 2am curfew he imposed on clubs and bars. His decisions were seen as trying to control nightlife and as being contrary to the Greek spirit of leisure. He later left PASOK and was elected as an independent MP on the

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

list for

in the 2004 elections. Though he started his political career in a liberal party and was later in a socialdemocratic one, he is now considered a left-wing nationalist and "traditional centrist patriot". He has a privileged relationship with the

Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its ...

Party leader

In March, 2007 he announced the foundation of a new political party,

Democratic Revival The Democratic Revival (''Greek: Δημοκρατική Αναγέννηση Dimokratiki Anagenissi'') is a political party in Greece, initially founded in 2004 by Stelios Papathemelis. It was deactivated after its leader participated in the le ...

. In the general elections of September 2007, Democratic Revival performed dismally, tallying 0.8% of the national vote and failed to get parliamentary representation. In May 2009 he formed the

Panhellenic Macedonian Front The Panhellenic Macedonian Front ( el, Πανελλήνιο Μακεδονικό Μέτωπο, ΠΑ.Μ.ΜΕ.) is a political party in Greece. It was founded in May 2009 by the politician Stelios Papathemelis and professor Kostas Zouraris to run i ...

coalition with professor

Kostas Zouraris Konstantinos (Kostas) Zouraris ( el, Κωνσταντίνος (Κώστας) Ζουράρις; born 1940 in Thessaloniki) is a Greek, from Greece's Macedonia region, political scientist and writer.Hellenic Ministry of Culture National Book Centerbi ...

to run in the June 2009

European Parliamentary elections 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. Until ...

. The party included Greek Macedonian diaspora organisations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papathemelis, Stelios 1938 births Living people Greek Macedonians Greek nationalists Greek MPs 1974–1977 Greek MPs 1977–1981 Greek MPs 1981–1985 Greek MPs 1985–1989 Greek MPs 1989 (June–November) Greek MPs 1989–1990 Greek MPs 1990–1993 Greek MPs 1993–1996 Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2004–2007 MPs of Thessaloniki Ministers for Northern Greece Centre Union – New Forces politicians Union of the Democratic Centre (Greece) politicians PASOK politicians Ministers of Public Order of Greece