Yeroulanos says Diamantopoulou’s candidacy cost him runoff spot

PASOK MP Pavlos Yeroulanos has said that the candidacy of former EU commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou in the election for the new party president cost him his place in Sunday's runoff.

"Of course, that is obvious," said Yeroulanos, a former minister, in an interview with Skai TV on Friday morning. "I believed that until her candidacy, we had an interesting alliance among factions in PASOK that hadn't been on the same side for a long time. They did not deserve to be divided."

The first round was won by incumbent leader Nikos Androulakis, who received 29.6% of the vote. Yeroulanos was narrowly defeated by Athens Mayor Haris Doukas for second place, garnering 21.1% compared to Doukas' 21.4% - a difference of just 858 votes.

Diamantopoulou, who was projected by some polls to qualify for the second round, received a substantial 19.5%.

Both Yeroulanos and...