The New Democracy party’s nationwide campaign offensive is in full swing, with party secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis and senior party figures operating under clear instructions from Kyriakos Mitsotakis to canvass the entire country. Their mission: to highlight the government’s achievements over the past seven years while laying out its priorities for the next governing cycle.
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New Democracy: The first stops of the party tour
As part of this effort, teams of New Democracy ministers, MPs, and party officials have already received their marching orders. The tour is deliberately kicking off in regions where the ruling party has seen its support erode compared to its 2023 election performance. Tellingly, the first stop was the Region of Central Macedonia, while last week teams led by top-ranking government figures toured the Region of Western Greece. The Peloponnese and Thessaly are next in line.
The strategic selection of ministers for the regional tours
The choice of ministers assigned to each region carries particular significance. Kyriakos Pierrakakis is set to visit Achaia, while Michalis Chrysochoidis heads to Ilia. New Democracy has deliberately chosen two ministers with centrist backgrounds for two constituencies where PASOK has traditionally held strong sway — and where SYRIZA posted strong results in the last elections, with Alexis Tsipras’ new party now banking on mobilizing its base across Western Greece.
The next stop, planned for the coming week, is the Peloponnese. Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis is scheduled to visit Arcadia, Makis Voridis will head to Laconia, Thanos Plevris to Argolis, and party secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis will visit Messenia alongside ministers Niki Kerameus and Christos Dimas. Rounding out the schedule, Agriculture Development Minister Margaritis Schinas will tour the prefecture of Corinth.
The Peloponnese: The next big challenge — and the shadow of Antonis Samaras
The selection of ministers with a distinctly conservative profile for the four Peloponnese prefectures makes New Democracy’s strategy clear: to win back voters and party members who supported the party in the 2019 and 2023 elections but have since drifted away, maintaining an emotional distance from the party they once backed.
In any case, party strategists cannot ignore the charged atmosphere generated by persistent rumors that former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is planning to launch a new political party. Samaras has traditionally maintained a strong base both in his home region of Messenia and across the Peloponnese more broadly. When government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis was asked on Real FM to clarify whether his Thursday comments about the landmark European Parliament resolution were a response to Samaras’ criticism of the government’s foreign policy, he was quick to respond: “The former prime minister is not a Member of the European Parliament, nor does he have a European parliamentary group to support or oppose a very significant report — one that vindicates Greece’s positions.”
