Background
Dimitris Koutsoumpas was born in August 10, 1955 in Lamia, Greece. His father, Apostolis, was exiled for his political actions.
Dimitris Koutsoumpas was born in August 10, 1955 in Lamia, Greece. His father, Apostolis, was exiled for his political actions.
Koutsoumpas studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and was a member of the Communist Youth of Greece, participating at the Athens Polytechnic uprising against the Regime of the Colonels in November 1973.
In 1987, he was elected for the first time to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, to which he was reelected in the following years. In the same year, he became the director of Rizospastis, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, in which post he remained for the following decade. He was also a candidate in the parliamentary elections of 2000 and 2007 for the Boeotia prefecture without being elected.
In the 19th Party Congress, on 14 April 2013, he was elected as the General Secretary of the party, succeeding Aleka Papariga.
In 1996, he was elected for the first time to the party"s politburo. During his political career, he was also the head of the International Relations sector of the party.