In the run-up to elections, party activity goes hand in hand with the work of government. Against this backdrop, Kyriakos Mitsotakis may have spent much of the past few days dealing with geopolitical issues and Greece’s response in the wake of the Libyan parliament in Benghazi ratifying the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum, while preparing to travel to New York for the United Nations after the 28 October parade. However, that does not mean he is abandoning his targeted regional visits.

On Friday, he visited Vrilissia. Today, he will travel to Agios Dimitrios in Attica, which is celebrating its patron saint’s feast day. On Tuesday, he will visit Kilkis before heading to Thessaloniki, where he will stay ahead of the parade. After returning from the United States, he will chair a meeting of New Democracy’s Executive Secretariat, which is set to become a key body as the country moves towards the ballot box.

Mr Mitsotakis returned late last night from Riyadh, where he had travelled under the strictest secrecy to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. With Saudi Arabia’s potential accession to the Mecca Agreement framework involving Turkey and Pakistan in mind, Mr Mitsotakis does not want relations with the Kingdom to lose momentum. A key factor in strengthening ties is the Patriot missile battery deployed in Saudi Arabia since 2021, which is expected to remain there for a considerable time.

According to reports, MBS thanked Mr Mitsotakis yesterday for this move, saying that the Saudi people would not forget it. The talks covered all the latest developments in the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, oil prices and the activities of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Efforts to Rally the Party

At the same time, Mr Mitsotakis has been meeting New Democracy MPs from across Greece at his office in the Maximos Mansion. These have mainly been MPs who have not been given roles in the government or who have previously held government posts. The discussions have covered a broad range of issues, allowing him to gauge the political mood in each constituency.

The November ahead may be the last relatively ‘clear’ month before the Christmas holidays, after which the final stretch towards the polls will begin. New Democracy’s strategy, which Mr Mitsotakis is pursuing consistently, is clear: to rally the party’s forces through an intensive effort to reconnect with voters who supported it in 2023.

However, to achieve this, the argument that a steady hand at the wheel is needed to steer the country through the winter’s energy storm does not appear to be enough. On the contrary, voices within the Maximos Mansion are growing stronger in their calls for Mr Mitsotakis to present a coherent vision looking ahead to 2030.

A recent Pulse poll for SKAI also supports this approach. According to the survey, 53% of voters will base their vote on future prospects, while only 10% intend to cast a protest vote. This does not mean that New Democracy will automatically benefit from votes motivated by future prospects, but it is clear that political space exists in this area.

There are also two other important factors for the government. On the one hand, voters recognise its efforts to intervene in fuel prices and curb the wave of rising costs. This equation must also take into account the extension until the end of the year of the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with the retail market, announced by Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos, following the government’s recent €95 million intervention concerning industrial electricity prices.

On the other hand, voters from other parties, particularly PASOK, also give the government credit for these efforts. All this suggests that New Democracy has more room for political manoeuvre in the centre than to its right, although it will need to win back supporters with more right-wing views who have become increasingly distant from the party.

Missteps and Frayed Nerves

The government’s course has not been entirely smooth, however. In recent days, the Maximos Mansion has had to contend with questionable conduct and ill-judged remarks by government figures.

The most unwelcome development for the Prime Minister, however, was the series of ‘missteps’ over the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum. At a time when the government is seeking a diplomatic comeback by resuming talks with Egypt on the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), while trying to counter claims that Greece has suffered a diplomatic defeat, two New Democracy MPs made statements that caused a political stir.

New Democracy parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Kairidis, an experienced figure on international affairs, described the outcome of the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum affair as a ‘political defeat’. Meanwhile, MP Dimitris Kalogeropoulos used the cryptic, colloquial expression ‘we’ve had it’, a phrase previously used by Theodora Tzakri to describe SYRIZA’s performance among agricultural voters.

In Mr Kairidis’s case, given his prominent parliamentary position, it is said that Mr Mitsotakis was deeply irritated. In Dimitris Kalogeropoulos’s case, the call from the Maximos Mansion was immediate and forceful: he was told to retract his statement, which had already gone viral in the meantime.

‘I used an unfortunate expression when referring to the illegal Turkish-Libyan Memorandum. It reflects neither our national position nor my conviction that Greece has strong diplomatic and geostrategic advantages,’ Mr Kalogeropoulos said belatedly. By then, however, the damage had already been done.

Many also commented that Mr Kalogeropoulos had voiced criticism of the development broadly similar to that expressed by Antonis Samaras, although drawing a political connection between the two is arguably speculative.

All Eyes on Karamanlis

Yesterday, many eyes within the government were on the War Museum, where Kostas Karamanlis delivered a speech in the presence of Antonis Samaras and Vangelis Meimarakis.

Mr Karamanlis adopted a strongly worded stance towards those who argue that Greece can ‘reach an understanding’ with Turkey, although he stopped short of the direct attack launched by Mr Samaras against the government over the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum.

Mr Karamanlis was, however, unequivocal on the GSI cable project, saying that there should be neither a request for permission nor any notification to Turkey regarding Greek actions. In doing so, he distanced himself from the position outlined by Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, who had suggested that Greece could notify Turkey without seeking its permission.

Nevertheless, Mr Karamanlis expressed his views without directly attacking New Democracy. Mr Samaras, however, interpreted the speech differently. Leaving the venue, he remarked: ‘The question is not whether I heard him; others need to listen to him.’

Among those seated in the front row of the audience were prominent New Democracy figures, including the party’s secretary, Konstantinos Kyranakis.