Maximos Mansion is maintaining a wait-and-see stance regarding the prospect of the new parties announced by Alexis Tsipras and Maria Karystianou, although the first “warning shots” have already begun.

Officially, the two cases are not being equated, mainly because Mr. Tsipras has political baggage, while Ms. Karystianou has spoken very little in broader political terms. However, the new parties are already on Maximos Mansion’s radar, which initially estimates that they will not simply be added to the already existing parties; rather, they will break into and “sweep away” several of the small and medium-sized ones.

Starting with Mr. Tsipras, many in the conference “huddles” at the ND congress estimated that the creation of his party and its momentum would lead the former prime minister to immediately “pressure” PASOK. Maximos Mansion’s analysis is that Mr. Tsipras is appealing to a public that has no connection with New Democracy; on the contrary, they believe Nikos Androulakis should be more concerned. At the same time, for Maximos Mansion, Mr. Tsipras is “the devil they know,” given that ND has faced and defeated him both in 2019 and 2023, therefore the response strategy will be the same.

“I think the time of every politician who has the honor of being elected prime minister is the years of his governance. I believe Mr. Tsipras’ time was then — that moment was neither early nor late, it was when the people honored him with their vote. Now I think it’s too late for tears and attempts to rewrite history,” the government spokesperson said pointedly about Mr. Tsipras on Monday afternoon. Obviously, Mr. Tsipras’ rise could also function as a vehicle for rallying ND supporters, with Mr. Mitsotakis saying during the ND congress that, inevitably, in the elections ND’s seven-year term will be compared to SYRIZA’s previous four-year term.

Karystianou, Northern Greece and Russia

On the other hand, ND is keeping somewhat milder tones (for now) regarding Ms. Karystianou’s case, although Adonis Georgiadis has already gone on the offensive, saying (on Action24) that Kyriakos Velopoulos would have a problem with the vote of Russophiles. It is obvious that once Ms. Karystianou unfolds her program and reveals the people surrounding her, the landscape will change. Besides, Ms. Karystianou enjoys considerable appeal especially in Northern Greece and, although it is estimated that she will not directly affect current ND voters and will instead “shake up” NIKI and Greek Solution among others, she may nevertheless “fish” from the undecided voter pool, where there are also many voters who supported ND in 2023.

Already, the first shots are coming from the government regarding the credibility of Ms. Karystianou’s statements, given that months ago she said she would not create a party, while behind the scenes comments are being made about the nature and orientation of her associates. Obviously, Adonis Georgiadis’ comment about “Russophilia” was not unrelated to the broader mood within Maximos Mansion, while the ND vice president also linked this issue to the activity of organized trolls during the period of tension surrounding the Tempi rallies.

The scenarios regarding Samaras

However, the main under-formation party discussed extensively in the “huddles” of the ND congress was that of Antonis Samaras, although obviously the former prime minister’s decisions are not definitively locked in. Everyone acknowledges that Mr. Samaras is making moves, though the urging by his lawyer Dimitris Giannou at the ND congress for the mistake of the expulsion to be recognized through a move by Mr. Mitsotakis did not go unnoticed. Of course, the prime minister replied on Sunday that history is written by those who are present — a remark aimed at both Mr. Samaras and Mr. Karamanlis.

In any case, there is still plenty of time until the elections. “It is self-evident that when a battle is approaching which will determine whether the country continues moving forward and correcting mistakes and weaknesses, rather than going several decades backwards, nobody is expendable — much less people who led the party and the country. Heaven forbid they were expendable! But that does not mean that we will distance ourselves from key political choices, primarily at the level of foreign policy,” Mr. Marinakis stressed yesterday, in a way highlighting the existing deadlock in the Mitsotakis–Samaras relationship.