Tzannis Tzannetakis

Tzannis Tzannetakis (Τζανής Τζαννετάκης) (13 September 1927 – 1 April 2010) was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989.

Biography
Tzannetakis was born in Gytheio in the region of Laconia in 1927. He served as a naval officer but resigned on 22 April 1967, the day after the military coup d'etat which brought the dictatorship of George Papadopoulos to power. He was imprisoned by the regime from 1969 to 1971.

When democracy was restored in 1974, Tzannetakis joined the New Democracy party of Constantine Karamanlis, and was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1977. Between 1977 and the defeat of the ND government in 1981 he was at various times Minister for Public Works, Tourism, and Defence.

The Greek legislative election, June 1989 left the PASOK party of Andreas Papandreou in the minority. New Democracy, however, now led by Constantine Mitsotakis, could not form a government despite its significant lead in the popular vote, because of changes to Greek electoral law that PASOK had voted to effect before the elections. Tzannetakis was appointed Prime Minister in a government under an unlikely alliance with the left-wing Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos), which then included the Communist Party of Greece.

Tzannetakis resigned when the Synaspismos withdrew its support in 1989. Yiannis Grivas then formed a caretaker government until fresh elections could be held. New Democracy won these elections too, but once more could not form a government, despite tallying 46% of the vote, with PASOK coming second with 40%. An "Ecumenical" Government, headed by Xenophon Zolotas, with the participation of all three political parties (New Democracy, PASOK, Synaspismos) was formed, but fell within 4 months because of intense disagreements between its participants. New elections were held in 1990, where, for the third consecutive time within a year, New Democracy (Greece) won with a significant lead of 8% over PASOK. This time ND managed to form a government under its leader, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, hinging on a small parliamentary majority of two representatives. Tzannetakis became Deputy Prime Minister in this government, a post he held until 1993. He was a member of the Hellenic Parliament till September 2007, when he announced his intention to retire from his political activity. That announcement was welcomed by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis as a call for renewal on the Greek political scene.

Tzannetakis died in an Athens hospital on 1 April 2010.