Mitsotakis to spearhead ND Euro election campaign

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is set to play a leading role in New Democracy’s European elections campaign. 

He said as much in his speech that closed the proceedings of the three-day conference marking the 50th anniversary of New Democracy.

“Behind the title and the names on the ballot paper is my name,” Mitsotakis said, clearly giving the European elections the character of national elections. 

In both his speeches, on Friday and Sunday, Mitsotakis went out of his way to exorcise the specter of abstention or loose voting.

The government’s main argument to convince its electoral base not to make a different choice is that a bad result “will distort the mandate that the government received a few months ago” and the country may enter into political instability.

“The opposition recently called for elections even though a few months ago [last summer’s national elections] the government received 41%,” a government source told Kathimerini, wanting to sound the alarm that if the result is around the 30% mark, the opposition will up the ante even more and the country will enter a path of instability.

Mitsotakis’ intention to take over the election campaign not just in words, but also in deeds, was on full display on Monday with visits to the islands of Rhodes and Tilos, at the start of tours throughout Greece. Moreover top ministers and government officials are excepted to “sweep the country.”

Northern Greece will play a central role in all tours, starting on Tuesday, when the prime minister will be in Thessaloniki. Macedonia and Thrace. “There will be no place left where we will not go,” a government official told Kathimerini.

The reason is none other than the pressure that the ruling conservatives are under from the right of the political spectrum, with the latest polls showing a leak of 1.5% from New Democracy to nationalist Greek Solution.