ND rightists riding high

Ever since he became leader of the conservative New Democracy party, in January 2016, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis deployed a strategy of attracting centrist voters, even moderate socialists.

The strategy paid off in the July 2019 national election won by New Democracy and in an easy re-election in June 2023. But electoral success could not conceal grumbling from more traditional conservatives that the prime minister was relying too much on centrists and former socialists.

The result of the European elections, where New Democracy lost more than 12 percentage points, mostly to the far right, increased discontent. Complaints surfaced with a vengeance during a meeting of the ruling party's parliamentary group on June 26. Since then, despite protestations from Mitsotakis aides that nothing changed, there are signs that the party is pulling the government towards a...