Panos Kammenos

A number of Greek political figures have taken to social media to welcome Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election.

Panos Kammenos, the former leader of Independent Greeks which formed a government coalition with leftist SYRIZA from 2015 to 2019, tweeted "Make Greece great again," in a clear reference to Trump's election slogan.

The most convenient interpretation is that SYRIZA won the elections 10 years ago as an anti-austerity party rather than a left-wing one. This, the theory goes, led to a gradual loss of support as the party adjusted to fiscal realism and European rationalism.

Ilias Iliou, the parliamentary group representative for the United Democratic Left (EDA) party between 1958-1967 and a politician who was widely respected, even by his rivals, once quipped about the communists' unique ability to turn a mundane procedure like a meeting into a process that needs to be suffered through.

The SYRIZA government was an accident of history. A farce. It arose when Greece went bankrupt and people's anger turned against - rightfully so - the parties that had ruled the country until then: PASOK and New Democracy.

An acrimonious public conflict has broken out between erstwhile allies SYRIZA and the former leader of the nationalist ANEL party, Panos Kammenos, who were partners in government between 2015 and 2019.

In a political culture where polarization reigns for no specific ideological reason, very often a political party's policies and personnel choices are determined by its rivals actions and personalities. In recent years, this has brought the extreme right to the center stage of politics.

By George Gilson

By Angelos Al. Athanasopoulos

In spring, 2012, then TV reporter and producer of the show "Protagonistes" (protagonists), and later founder of the now defunct To Potami (the river) party, Stavros Theodorakis, in the context of contacts with other parties ahead of elections arranged an interview with Alexis Tsipras regarding Syriza's aims and prospects.

Athens' Court of Appeal convicted Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos of slander, ordering him to pay 50,000 euros plus interest to Andrikos Papandreou, the brother of former Socialist Premier George Papandreou, whom he had accused of involvement with a firm that profited from the purchase of credit default swaps (CDS) insuring against a Greek bankruptcy.