Internationalist Workers' Left

The return of the old rivalry between New Democracy and PASOK could be seen as the natural post-crisis evolution of political associations in Greece, after the noisy shrinking of leftist SYRIZA.

The former leader of SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis, officially launched his new political party, the "Movement for Democracy" on Saturday at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation in Athens. The name was chosen following a three-day online vote among the organization's supporters. 

The inaugural manifesto of the new political entity and the name has been presented at the Cacoyannis Foundation by Stefanos Kasselakis, Kinima Dimokratias (Democratic Movement).

Earlier, former SYRIZA MPs and current independents Kyriaki Malama, Theodora Tzakri, Alexandros Avlonitis, Ralia Christidou and Giota Poulou had arrived at the event.

Stefanos Kasselakis will present the key principles of his party’s program and its name today at 12 noon at the Michalis Kakogiannis Foundation

Even if we lived in a fishbowl, the turbulence in our political scene would be important. New Democracy finally rid itself of a former prime minister who was continually seeking attention by playing the popular roles of embittered messiah and compulsive Cassandra.

In an unprecedented turn of events, Greece's Parliament finds itself in a state of profound instability, a scenario unseen in the post-war era. The political landscape, shaped by the 2023 elections, has been dramatically reshaped as six out of eight parliamentary parties face significant defections and expulsions.

New spatial arrangements and office moves are taking place within the Greek Parliament, following the latest split in SYRIZA after the defection of Theodora Tzakri and Giota Poulou. As a result, PASOK has now become the official opposition party, as it has the second-highest number of seats in Parliament.

The new split in the SYRIZA parliamentary group has led to the loss of the official opposition title without the need for an election for the first time in post-junta history.

Greece saw a change in its main opposition party on Thursday after a wave of defections from the leftist SYRIZA party opened the door for the center-left PASOK to challenge the dominance of rightist Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

On Thursday morning, Theodora Tsakri and Giota Poulou announced their decision to leave SYRIZA and become independent MPs.

Following this development, SYRIZA now holds 29 parliamentary seats, which means that PASOK, with 31 MPs, takes on the role of the main opposition party.