ND rightists riding high
Without turning away from centrists, PM tries to mollify conservatives
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 more conservative line.
People close to Mitsotakis say that the prime minister needs to mobilize the party for the next national election, whether it takes place in 2027, as scheduled, or earlier.
A minor but telling decision was Mitsotakis’ backing off from appointing Katerina Fountedaki, one of the main authors of the legislation allowing same-sex marriage, to the National Commission of Assisted Reproduction. Another sign is the emergence of the Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, popular with the populist right, as the favorite for the position of European commissioner.
