KINAL President, Fofi Gennimata, has passed away today at Athens’ Evangelismos Hospital at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer.
“We extend our condolences to her family and friends,” the hospital said in a statement.
Gennimata was admitted to Athens’ Evangelismos Hospital in early October with an intestinal obstruction, causing her to withdraw from the KINAL party leadership elections.
“The deterioration of my health, which requires hospitalisation and treatment, obliges me not to participate as a candidate in the electoral process for the election of the president of the Movement for Change,” Gennimata said in a statement at the time.
Gennimata, the daughter of Greek politician Giorgos Gennimatas, was credited for establishing the Greek public health system during the government of PASOK in the 1980’s.
The politician was president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) since 2015. Since 2017, she served as the president of the Movement for Change, a coalition of center-left parties formed around PASOK.
From October 2009 to September 2010, Gennimata served as a Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare in the Cabinet of George Papandreou, and from September 2010 to November 2011, she served as an Alternate Minister of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs in the same cabinet.
