Greece's ruling New Democracy party has launched an aggressive nationwide mobilisation drive, overhauling its candidate lists with celebrities and young professionals as it moves to shore up vulnerable regions ahead of looming elections.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is leading the charge personally, following a recent stop in Nea Smyrni with a high-stakes campaign visit to western Athens on Tuesday.
In parallel, party General Secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis is touring politically volatile constituencies, moving from the Peloponnese into Thessaly to set up a dedicated training academy for party operatives.
The strategy centres on a wholesale refresh of the ballot, leaning on recognisable faces and younger technocrats to widen the party's reach. In the fiercely contested Athens A constituency, leadership is seriously weighing actor Thanasis Viskadourakis, who has signalled he is ready to run if Mitsotakis calls — likely alongside media-savvy lawyer Paula Damianou.
In Piraeus B, strategists are floating fashion photographer and TV personality Dimitris Skoulos.
Beyond the capital, New Democracy is courting influential millennials region by region: lawyer Porfylenia Kanellopoulou in Messinia, prime ministerial aide Nikos Bloskas in Chalkidiki, and Elena Sokou — coordinator of the PM's Thessaloniki office — whose Evros candidacy is reportedly all but sealed.
Former regional mayor Meropi Ydraiou is being pursued for Corfu, while civil engineer Anna Tzika, 32, and oncologist Kostas Tsigaridas are under consideration for Pieria and Evrytania, as the party gears up for a long, gruelling electoral fight.
By Penny Avramidi