The new leader of New Democracy is Antonis Samaras

Prime Minister George Papandreou (r) greets the new leader of New Democracy, Antonis Samaras, at the latter’s office. The two men, aged 57 and 58 respectively, studied together at Amherst College in Massachusetts in the early 1970s.

Antonis Samaras took over yesterday as the leader of New Democracy from Costas Karamanlis after scoring a clear victory in Sunday’s election, which is seen as a clear mandate for the former finance, foreign and culture minister to begin reshaping the conservative party.

With almost all of the votes counted by last night, Samaras had taken 50.31 percent of the vote, compared to 39.34 for his main rival Dora Bakoyannis and 10.34 for Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis.