Dimitris Dafopoulos, co-founder of the premium mixer brand Three Cents that was acquired by Coca-Cola HBC for €45 million in 2022, has signed the founding charter of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's new Hellenic Left Alignment party — bringing an unusual corporate profile to a movement that is deliberately recruiting business figures to broaden its economic credibility ahead of the 2027 elections.
Mr. Dafopoulos co-founded Three Cents in 2014 and built it into an internationally distributed premium beverages brand before the Coca-Cola HBC acquisition.
His Athens portfolio also includes the zero-waste restaurant "Line," and his current business activities extend into consumer goods, brand development and cybersecurity according to the biography accompanying his ELAS charter signature.
He has not confirmed whether he will stand for parliament under the ELAS banner, with associates saying his current focus is on the party's policy development rather than electoral candidacy.
The recruitment reflects a strategic calculation by Mr. Tsipras — whose ELAS party claimed second place nationally in polls within days of its launch — that a left-of-centre movement needs credible business voices to win over professional and younger voters who have drifted away from traditional party affiliations.
The same polling that showed ELAS surging showed SYRIZA, Mr. Tsipras's former party, collapsing toward parliamentary extinction at 2.3 percent.
By Antonis Telopoulos