The return of Alexis Tsipras, the left-wing former prime minister, and the emergence of new, smaller parties are expected to reshape and fragment the Greek political landscape ahead of the next national election.
Tsipras, who led the country at the height of the economic and debt crisis in 2015, has undergone a renaming exercise and is now expected to announce a new party on May 26.
it resigned as leader of Syriza in 2023 after a heavy defeat by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current conservative prime minister, and then left parliament in 2025.
Since then, the opposition across Greece’s political spectrum has remained fragmentedand no politician has emerged as a credible challenger to Mitsotakis’ dominance.
Left wing collapse
Meanwhile, the fragmented left parties are disintegrating in anticipation of the new party. Tsipras has said that he will not accept any active politician in his new formation.
However, many members of Syriza and the New Left party have attended Tsipras’ rallies across the country in recent months – often uninvited – even as they refuse to give up their parliamentary seats.
“Tsipras left Syriza, which resulted in chaos. Of course, Tsipras wants new faces; he doesn’t want any of them back, although they desperately want to be by his side the next day,” said one Syriza member. Euractiv.
However, political uncertainty is casting a shadow over the Greek economy, Moody’s has said warned.
The center-right New Democracy and Mitsotakis lead in all pollsbut is unlikely to be able to form a one-party government. Perhaps a coalition will be required and second place will be decisive.
According to polls, Tsipras and the center-left PASOK are expected to engage in an arm wrestling match for second place.
Officially, PASOK says it intends to win the elections and rules out any cooperation with New Democracy. In reality, PASOK sources say that the party will try to secure second place in order to become the backbone of a progressive front.
However, some traditional PASOK members reject this idea and still favor cooperation with New Democracy – although not under Mitsotakis’ leadership due to The predator wiretapping scandalin which the phone of the head of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis – among others – was tapped.
A collaboration with New Democracy is likely to split PASOK and that is something Tsipras will benefit from, the Syriza source said.
New parties
The situation is no longer calm on the right of the political spectrum. Mitsotakis is facing an internal revolt from centre-right politicians who criticize the prime minister’s reliance on technocrats to rule the country.
At the same time, a The farm subsidy scandal under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, combined with expected tensions with neighboring Turkey, is causing concern about the political cost.
Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a hardliner on foreign policy, is rumored to be considering forming a new party aimed at attracting conservative voters.
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Meanwhile, Maria Karystianou – whose the girl was killed in the deadly train accident in Tempi, Greece in 2023 — founded a new political party last week, called Hope for Democracy.
The party, which has been criticized for being pro-Russian, has a conservative orientation and targets New Democracy, which it accuses of political responsibility for the train crash that killed 57 people.
However, polls show that New Democracy has not been seriously damaged by its own party. Instead, smaller right-wing parties will feel the impact.
Bluffing?
However, Mitsotakis may not have had his last word.
The Greek leader has insisted that elections will take place as planned in the first half of 2027, just before the country takes over the next presidency of the EU Council.
However, reports in the local press have suggested that Mitsotakis may call early elections in the fall of 2026.
Some members of Syriza and PASOK fear that the government revealed this scenario in order to force Tsipras and Karystianou to push the launch of new parties so that, by the time of the 2027 elections, they would have worn out and lost electoral momentum.
Economic relief measures expected to be announced by Mitsotakis at the Thessaloniki International Fair in September could also play a role in Greeks’ voting intentions, as inflation has hit households hard.
(bw, cs)
