Parties to the right of New Democracy deeply divided
The three main parties to the right of center-right New Democracy collectively represent around 20% of the Greek electorate, but continue to have relatively limited influence because of the deep ideological, political and personal divisions preventing them from joining forces.
The divisions in the hard-right camp are only seen growing following the ouster from ND of former prime minister Antonis Samaras and rumors that he may launch a new party to represent the governing conservatives’ more right-leaning contingent.
A recent statement by Voice of Reason’s Aphrodite Latinopoulou, who said that she has no intention of “being under anyone, not even Antonis Samaras,” is believed to have laid to rest the possibility of the party drawing disaffected ND cadres.
Greek Solution chief Kyriakos Velopoulos, meanwhile, is said to be wary of influential hard-right ND cadres like Adonis Georgiadis, Makis Voridis and Thanos Plevris, who moved to the conservatives after precipitating the collapse of Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), and has said, according to sources, that he “has no intention of being stiffed in the same way” as LAOS leader Girogos Karatzaferis was.
Niki, for its part, is out of the fray as it is struggling to maintain unity, following the recent resignation of MP Giorgos Apostolakis who objected to how the party was run by a small clique of “elders.”
Stavros Papantoniou-Kathimerini
