ND leader continues campaign trail with a return to conservative roots

Main opposition leader E. Meimarakis is expected to call for unity at his speech at Rigillis Street at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Evangelos Meimarakis aims to gather together traditional center right voters in a call for unity to be launched on Tuesday. His speech marks a return to the party’s former headquarters at Rigillis Street, in the Athens center.

Talking to farmers in a closed stadium in Patras, in the Peloponnese, on Monday, he urged them to consider the results of the January elections that saw the rise of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA). “Within six months, we were burdened with another 90 billion euros in debt,” he said. “We do not have this luxury. We cannot go to vote for a party just for the hell of it.”

The conservative party is hoping to gather voters that had abandoned the party in the last elections. The move from Syngrou Avenue to 18 Rigillis Street is symbolic, showing a return to the party’s fundamental roots.

A great deal of the focus is on exposing former SYRIZA prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ lies. “Never before has a prime minister done so badly in such a short time,” said Meimarakis on Monday. “Never before has a politician told so many lies as Alexis Tsipras.” Meimarakis noted that Tsipras did not achieve what he set out to do, instead he butchered pensions, did not abolish the single property tax (ENFIA) as promised, and brought in a new bailout agreement contrary to the sweeping statements that motivated voters on January 25.