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Thursday, February 6, 2014
Yet Another Greek Splinter Party
Two former members of New Democracy who were ejected from the ruling party after refusing to obey orders to vote for austerity measures have joined forces to create their own party, another in a grouping of challengers to the political system that has seen voters always returning the Conservatives and the PASOK Socialists to power. Former public order minister Vyron Polydoras and Christos Zois have named their party the Union for the Homeland and the People although Zois, who last year formed Nea Mera (New Day) will keep that party within the new party, although it’s unclear how they would operate simultaneously. Polydoras, in a fiery speech against the harsh austerity measures being imposed by the government on the orders of international lenders, indirectly blistered Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras for being blind to the suffering they are causing although Polydoras had always supported the conditions until then. There haven’t been any polls to indicate how much support they might have, but other splinter parties formed by disaffected politicians, such as former PASOK minister Andreas Loverdos don’t even register in surveys and are essentially irrelevant. Zois has been out of the New Democracy ranks since February 2012, when he voted against Greece’s second bailout. He then joined Panos Kammenos’s Independent Greeks – another New Democracy offshoot – but left the party in December of the same year and created Nea Mera which has has zero influence since.