The official start of a long pre-election period will be marked by the regular congress of New Democracy, which will begin this Friday, May 15, in the afternoon at the Metropolitan Expo in Spata and will conclude on Sunday afternoon. From Thessaloniki and the last pre-congress of ND, Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave the signal for the start of the election campaign, although at every opportunity he insists steadily that the ballot boxes will be set up in the spring of 2027.
Pre-election call from Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Unity climate in ND with messages from Dendias, Tzitzikostas on the eve of the congress
“An encouragement, then, friends: don’t wait for the pre-election period. We must go out again from tomorrow. We must address this great current of recovery from 2019, creation from 2023. We must speak with sincerity,” said the prime minister, at the same time that an open exercise of unity for the governing party was unfolding at the same pre-congress. “Which political force, which government, which officials, which prime minister, have the ability to better continue this work and deliver to the next generations a strong Greece?” wondered Nikos Dendias at the end of his speech, giving the answer himself at the closing: “The party that can do this is called New Democracy. The government that can do this is the government of New Democracy. The officials who can do this are the officials, the political personnel of New Democracy. And the prime minister who can do this is in front of you and is called Kyriakos Mitsotakis.” “The Greece of 2019 has nothing to do with the Greece of 2026. Today, we can look back and be proud of overcoming the economic crisis and returning to normalcy. And this improvement is the work of our governments. It is the work of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis,” emphasized Greek Commissioner to the European Union, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, in his own statement.
The challenge for Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to present at the upcoming congress the political and electoral narrative for the 2027 ballot boxes and to show first of all to the nearly 3,000 congress members that their party has a coherent and convincing plan to claim a third term in power with an absolute majority and that this is a realistic and achievable goal. The smooth and tension-free election of the 150 members of the Political Committee (note: the remaining approximately 300 are ex officio, e.g. MPs, MEPs, etc.) is a second requirement, as several of the so-called top officials of the party and government seek to achieve the election of as many officials of their own influence as possible among the “150.”
Already, for example, with Adonis Georgiadis’s speech at the recent session of ND’s parliamentary group, the underlying dispute between the Health Minister and Defense Minister Dendias became apparent. Another requirement, since this is the last ND congress before the national elections – whenever they are held – is to tangibly give the image of unity and the start of a victorious course.
In the immediate days following the congress, the secretary of the governing party will be elected by the new Political Committee, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis favoring a parliamentary choice, seeking someone with a party career and characteristics that would allow them to lead the party in a successful pre-election campaign.
The six-hour session of the parliamentary group last Thursday was judged as a successful “test” for the Maximos Mansion, as while several MPs expressed disagreements and objections on a series of issues, such as the executive state, their speeches were relatively measured and moved largely within calculated frameworks. “Whoever wants their name to be in the marquee will have to go into the fire. Not only in the easy times, but also in the difficult ones,” said yesterday, speaking on ERT, the secretary of the governing party’s parliamentary group, Maximos Charakopoulos, showing the underlying dissatisfaction of “blue” MPs with ministers who, as they say, move with caution and safety, without being exposed, especially in difficult times.
