Peter Gonis’s Leading Our Community failed to secure the numbers, leaving the road open for Panagiotis Ppyros’s Independent Community Progressive Party to head the Community.
Panagiotis Ppyros told Neos Kosmos that the newly elected committee will “work hard to bring unity in the Community ranks”.
The Independent Community Progressive Party was the big winner in the election held on Saturday, January 11, for the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA).
Gonis came 10th in most votes, while Ppyros came in as 14th his ticket did better than Leading Our Community. According to the results provided to Neos Kosmos by community sources on Sunday, 11 board members out of a total of 15 are from the Independent Community Progressive Party, the opposition till now.
Neos Kosmos was also told by a member, that, “Con Bakolias ran as an independent after Peter Gonis failed to add him to his ticket.”
“Bakoliasdid a 50/50 bipartisan ticket.”
Ppyros’s team’s disagreement with the existing GOCSA Board was the move to reconcile with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and resolve the six-decade Schism.
Panagiotis Gardiacos, the current president of GOCSA, failed to secure the 75 per cent needed to reconcile with the Church at a special general meeting last year, even though his motion garnered over 60 per cent.
On the eve of the elections, the current GOCSA president, Panagiotis Gardiacos, announced that he would not be running.
Peter Gonis was appointed as the head of his team, who also was elected to the new Board of Directors on Saturday.
The official Blessing of the Waters of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia was taking place on Sunday, but we were unable to get statements of leadership from the outgoing Board.
Pyros sent a statement to Neos Kosmos and said it was, “a very difficult election in which 600 members voted – the largest number to vote in our membership elections in many, many years”.
“Our ticket managed to win 11 of the 15 seats on the board of directors.
“We believe was a very good result considering the extremely difficult circumstances we had to face.
“We sincerely thank all those who honoured us with their vote and chose our party to lead the historic Adelaide Community on its path to the future.
“We also thank all members for their participation in the elections and all those who contributed to the smooth running of the polls.
“Now, it will take hard work from all of us to bring about unity in the community, for the recovery of the community economy as well as safeguarding the democratic functioning and assets of our organisation,” said a victorious Panagiotis Ppyros.
