Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has finalized organizational plans to launch a new right-wing party, with associates vetting candidates across Greece for an electoral roster and ten former New Democracy officials — aligned with both Mr. Samaras and former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis — pledging to join the moment he gives the directive, political sources have confirmed.
The launch would open a new front in a Greek political landscape already convulsed by the emergence of Alexis Tsipras's ELAS party, which drove SYRIZA to 2.3 percent in a poll this week, and Maria Karystianou's "Hope for Democracy" — leaving the ruling New Democracy facing potential attrition from both the left and, now, from within its own conservative base.
A Pulse poll found that 11 percent of the electorate would "certainly or likely" back a Samaras-led ticket.
The recruitment drive is targeting disillusioned conservative voters, municipal leaders and former New Democracy lawmakers including Kostas Tzavaras, Zisis Tzikalagias and recently expelled MP Marios Salmas.
Mr. Samaras is due to speak in Heraklion, Crete, at an event hosted by the "Noima-Kriti" think tank, where sources say he will address the economy, rule of law and agricultural policy — including the OPEKEPE subsidy fraud scandals that have produced over 1,400 defendants in recent weeks.
The government response has been mixed. Deputy Minister Haris Theocharis called Mr. Samaras an "extreme-rightist," a label that government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis quickly walked back. Senior cabinet official Makis Voridis dismissed the threat, arguing that personal ambition cannot sustain a political party.
Mr. Samaras served as Prime Minister from 2012 to 2015 and as New Democracy leader during the height of the debt crisis.
His departure from the party's mainstream has been building since Mr. Mitsotakis took the leadership, with Samaras and Karamanlis both notably absent from the party's national congress earlier this month.
By Penny Avramidi