Pre-election alarm has sounded in New Democracy, following the election of Konstantinos Kyranakis as secretary of the Political Committee, organizing tours across Greece and strengthening party ballots with “new blood” on the road to the 2027 elections.
New Democracy: Tours across Greece and regional campaign launches
The Maximos Mansion and Pireos Street headquarters are focusing on substantial pre-election preparation of the “blue” machinery with the ballot box of next year in sight. Officials have already begun regional campaigns, starting with Central Macedonia, while Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be in Rhodes today, Saturday, for the inauguration of Pervolas in the Medieval City.
Ballot focus: targeting “new blood”
In the same context, massive candidate announcements are expected within the month in Attica and the regions, aimed at launching their own pre-election campaigns and contributing to the overall effort. Already 27 new faces are preparing to enter the battle. The figures being considered by Maximos Mansion and Pireos Street “communicate with society,” as a New Democracy source said, with many coming from local government backgrounds. Special emphasis is placed on enriching ballots with “new blood” to make them more competitive, and three new parliamentary candidates have already been announced. These are ND press spokesperson Alexandra Sdoukou in First District Athens, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou in the Trikala electoral district, and Deputy Education Minister Nikos Papaioannou in First District Thessaloniki. It should be noted that all three new ND candidates are entering the national electoral arena for the first time, while their names had been “locked in” for the “blue” ballots for quite some time.
The unity message from Kyranakis and meetings with… Karamanlis – Samaras – “Our mission is for all of us to sweat the jersey of the faction”
Names on the table for upcoming ND ballot announcements
A new “wave” of announcements is expected in the coming period. Regarding upcoming announcements, names on the table include former minister Theodoros Skylakakis for Ilia, photographer Dimitris Skoulos for Second District Piraeus, state MP Giorgos Stamatis for Corinthia, former minister Kostis Mousouroulis for Chios, deputy minister Nikos Tachiaos for Thessaloniki, and state MP Maria-Nefeli Chatziioanidou. From local government for the Trikala ballot, names circulating include former deputy regional governor Christos Michalakis, former mayor of Pylos Dimitris Kafantaris, deputy mayor of Kalamata Anastasios Skopeteas, while recently the name of lawyer Porfylenia Kanellopoulou, who was a state candidate in 2023, has been circulating.
New faces on the ballots include ND official Dimitris Diamantopoulos in Evia, DSA vice-president Zois Stavropoulos for Argolida, lawyer Maria-Oraiozili Koutsoupia in Imathia, oncologist Kostas Tsigaridas in Evrytania, and lawyer Orestis Omran for one of the Athens basin electoral districts. It should be recalled that so far announced names include Deputy Health Minister Marios Themistocleous in Eastern Attica Region, former research and innovation secretary Tasos Gaitanis in B3 South Athens Sector, prime minister’s office collaborator in Thessaloniki Giannis Papageorgiou in First District Thessaloniki, and former public property secretary Athanasios Tsiouros in the same region. Additionally, for Samos the candidacy of former migration policy secretary Manos Logothetis has been announced, and former asylum reception secretary Dimitris Glymis for Fokida. It should be noted that already from 2024 the candidacies of Pavlos Marinakis in the Northern Sector, Eirini Agapidaki in the Western, and Nikos Romanos in Southern Athens became known.
ND’s goal: reconnecting with the base and maximum unity
ND’s goal is the greatest possible mobilization of executive personnel and their utilization in the pre-election campaign, with emphasis on re-approaching officials who after the 2023 national elections have distanced themselves from the ruling party and Pireos Street. The hallmark of ND’s targeting of reconnection with its base and stepping up the gas ahead of the pre-election period was given by ND secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis, saying: “Our mission is for all of us to sweat the jersey of the faction and transmit this optimism to every one of our officials, to every friend and supporter of New Democracy, to every student or retiree, to every mother or father, to every worker or entrepreneur, in cities, in villages, in mountains and islands, from Othonoi to Kastellorizo, from Methoni to Didymoteicho and from Serres to Chania. Throughout Greece, so that all together, united, rallied, we make the entire map of Greece blue again”.
Of particular interest was the new secretary’s reference to the two former prime ministers Kostas Karamanlis and Antonis Samaras with whom he maintains channels, while simultaneously sending a message of unity and emphasizing that “no one is expendable” and that “total mobilization and unity” is required. In his first television appearance (Skai) after assuming his duties, Mr. Kyranakis noted: “I haven’t scheduled meetings as the new secretary with former prime ministers. And if I had planned them, I certainly wouldn’t say so on television. Right now we need total mobilization and unity, no one is expendable.” However, it should be considered certain that Konstantinos Kyranakis will seek to make these meetings happen, if they haven’t already taken place.
Published in Apogeumatini
