PASOK party

A group of self-styled anarchists firebombed the headquarters of socialist PASOK party in central Athens on Tuesday night, following a march to demand a prison leave for convicted terrorist Dimitris Koufodinas.

By George Gilson

The government handily won a confidence vote this evening (153-136) after a three-day debate which was characterised by ad hominem and vitriolic exchanges between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

It is not the first time that an election in another country has been used to justify or serve domestic political motives in Greece.

Now the electoral victory of the socialists in Spain and the trouncing of the right-wing People's Party are being exploited ahead of the upcoming electoral races in Greece - general, local, and European Parliament elections.

With Greece gearing up for ballots next month, ruling SYRIZA is trying to expand its electoral catchment by rebranding its image as a "progressive" political force.

Ahead of May's European Parliament elections, former socialist prime minister Costas Simitis has lambasted the ruling SYRIZA party as opportunistic and for siding with the right and far-right of the political spectrum to gain power.

Supreme Court prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou ordered on Monday an investigation into the finances of socialist PASOK party, following the testimony of a former party cadre who said that private companies funded the party to cover its campaign needs.

Whatever one thinks of Andeas Papandreou, the founder of the once-mighty PASOK party, there are two things that are beyond dispute. Firstly, he was a far more complex personality than his aspiring emulators would like to think and, secondly, he is far less contemporary than his "heirs" would like to believe.

Democratic Left (DIMAR), a small leftist party created as a result of a breakaway from Syriza back in 2010, has voted to approve the Prespes deal.

Amid accusations that ruling SYRIZA is trying to appropriate the legacy of the once powerful PASOK party, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other government members visited the home of Antonis Livanis, a veteran of the Socialist party, on the occasion of his name day on Thursday.

A worker at Greece's Parliament has been identified as being among nine Greek and two foreign suspects arrested in downtown Athens on Friday morning over an attack on a riot police unit in the Exarchia district, according to police sources.