New Left (Greece)

New Left
Νέα Αριστερά
Néa Aristerá
AbbreviationNEAR
PresidentGabriel Sakellaridis
SecretaryGabriel Sakellaridis
Founded4 December 2023 (as a parliamentary group)
3 March 2024 (as a party)
Registered5 December 2023
Split fromSyriza
HeadquartersAthens, Greece
NewspaperI Epochi
Youth wingNew Left Youth
IdeologyDemocratic socialism[1]
Political positionLeft-wing
European affiliationParty of European Left
Colours
  •   Red
  •   Purple
Hellenic Parliament
4 / 300
European Parliament
0 / 21
Website
neaaristera.gr

The New Left (NEAR; Greek: Νέα Αριστερά, romanized: Néa Aristerá) is a left-wing[2] democratic socialist[1] political party[3] in the Hellenic Parliament. It was founded on 4 December 2023 by eleven independent MPs who left the Syriza party.

Since March 2026, the acting president has been the secretary of the Central Committee, Gabriel Sakellaridis,[4] while the president of the Parliamentary Group is MP Peti Perka.[5]

History

After the resignation of Alexis Tsipras as president of Syriza, and the subsequent election of Stefanos Kasselakis to replace him in September 2023, there was an internal crisis in the party. The internal party groups "Umbrella" and "6+6" criticized Kasselakis's attempt to move the party towards the center. Kasselakis is considered to be more moderate than Tsipras, wanting the party to emulate the Democratic Party in the United States, a social-liberal party.[6] He was criticized by some Syriza members for his previous support of the centre-right party New Democracy, which currently has a majority in the Hellenic Parliament and is opposed by Syriza.[7][8] The 6+6 faction included deputy Effie Achtsioglou, who finished as runner-up to Kasselakis in the leadership election.

This conflict eventually culminated in the withdrawal of the "Umbrella" faction from the party[9] and the removal of two MPs considered close to it (Peti Perka and Euclid Tsakalotos) on Kasselakis's orders on 13 November 2023.[10] Ten days later, the "6+6" group[11] and nine MPs from it (Sia Anagnostopoulou, Effie Achtsioglou, Chousein Zeimpek, Nasos Iliopoulos, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Meropi Tzoufi, Ozgur Ferhat, Theano Fotiou, and Alexis Haritsis) withdrew from Syriza.[12]

On 4 December 2023, the eleven independent MPs announced the name and logo of their new party at a scheduled event.[13] The next day, the parliamentary group was officially announced in the Hellenic Parliament.[14] MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis announced his affiliation with the group the same day.[15]

On 1 March 2024, the party's founding conference was held in Athens. The foundation declaration summarised the fundamental positions of the party and announced the establishment of a Transitional Coordination Committee with 238 members.[16][17]

On 9 June 2024, in the European Parliament elections, the party failed to retain its MEPs, Dimitrios Papadimoulis and Stelios Kouloglou, receiving only 2.45% of the vote, and failing to reach the 3% threshold.[18][19]

On 15 May 2026, Ozgur Ferhat left the party group to sit as an independent.[20] On 2 June, seven members of the parliamentary group — Effie Achtsioglou, Alexis Haritsis, Nasos Iliopoulos, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Theano Fotiou, Meropi Tzoufi, and Chousein Zeimpek — and 150 total members resigned from the party after disagreements with party leadership.[21] The New Left parliamentary group subsequently dissolved as it had fallen below the requisite 10 members of parliament. Achtsioglou also resigned her seat that day.[22]

Election results

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election Votes % ±pp Seats won +/− Rank Leader EP Group
2024 97,554 2.45 New
0 / 21
 New 10th Alexis Haritsis The Left

References

  1. 1 2 "«Νέα Αριστερά» το όνομα των «11»". in.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Greece". Europe Elects. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. ↑ Stamatoukou, Eleni (5 December 2023). "After Quitting SYRIZA, Greek Leftist MPs Launch New Party". Balkan Insight. Athens. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Νέα Αριστερά: Νέος πρόεδρος ο Γαβριήλ Σακελλαρίδης - Η ανακοίνωση για την παραίτηση Χαρίτση - Documento". www.documentonews.gr (in Greek). 24 March 2026. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
  5. ↑ IEFIMERIDA.GR, NEWSROOM (31 March 2026). "Η Πέτη Πέρκα νέα πρόεδρος της ΚΟ της Νέας Αριστεράς μετά την παραίτηση Χαρίτση". iefimerida.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 6 April 2026.
  6. ↑ Smith, Helena (25 September 2023). "Stefanos Kasselakis: ex-banker who lit up Greek politics to lead Syriza". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  7. ↑ ""Δεν ήρθε, τον φέρανε, το παιδί δεν κάνει" – Λάβρος Τζουμάκας κατά Κασσελάκη". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). 20 October 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "Ο Στέφανος Κασσελάκης με τα δικά του λόγια". ΕΦΣΥΝ (in Greek). 21 October 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  9. ↑ "Εκτός ΣΥΡΙΖΑ η "Ομπρέλα" – Το κείμενο αποχώρησης". Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ (in Greek). 12 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  10. ↑ "Κασσελάκης: Εντολή για διαγραφή Πέρκα και Τσακαλώτου από την ΚΟ του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ". in.gr (in Greek). 13 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Εκτός ΣΥΡΙΖΑ οι "6+6" της Εφης Αχτσιόγλου – Το κείμενο αποχώρησης". Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ (in Greek). 23 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "ΣΥΡΙΖΑ: Αποχωρούν 9 βουλευτές μεταξύ των οποίων Αχτσιόγλου, Χαρίτσης, Ηλιόπουλος". www.naftemporiki.gr (in Greek). 23 November 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  13. ↑ ""Νέα Αριστερά": Αυτό είναι το όνομα της Κ.Ο. των 11 "πρώην" του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ – Το νέο λογότυπο". CNN.gr (in Greek). 4 December 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  14. ↑ "Κουβέντα". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "Δ. Παπαδημούλης: Θα εκπροσωπώ τη νέα Κ.Ο. στο Ευρωκοινοβούλιο". Η ΝΑΥΤΕΜΠΟΡΙΚΗ (in Greek). 3 December 2023.
  16. ↑ "Νέα Αριστερά: Και επίσημα κόμμα - Τα μέλη του Πανελλαδικού Συντονιστικού". ΕΘΝΟΣ (in Greek). 4 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  17. ↑ "Νέα Αριστερά με ιδρυτική διακήρυξη". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  18. ↑ "Αποτελέσματα ευρωεκλογών - Χαρίτσης: Η Νέα Αριστερά είναι εδώ και συνεχίζει" protothema.gr (in Greek) 09-06-2024
  19. ↑ "Χαρίτσης για Ευρωεκλογές 2024: Αρνητικό το αποτέλεσμα για τη Νέα Αριστερά, κανείς δεν δικαιούται να πανηγυρίζει" iefimerida.gr (in Greek) 09-06-2024
  20. ↑ "Ανεξαρτητοποιείται ο βουλευτής της Νέας Αριστεράς, Φερχάτ Οζγκιούρ: Τι λένε κύκλοι του κόμματος". Reader (in Greek). 15 May 2026. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  21. ↑ Αναγνώστου, Γρηγόρης (2 June 2026). "Διαλύθηκε η ΚΟ της Νέας Αριστεράς: Αποχώρησαν Τζανακόπουλος, Χαρίτσης και άλλοι πέντε βουλευτές". CNN.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  22. ↑ Δελημήτρου, Βάσω (2 June 2026). "Ο Δραγασάκης ξανά στη Βουλή μετά την παραίτηση Αχτσιόγλου ως «ανεξάρτητος βουλευτής της Αριστεράς»". NewsIT (in Greek). Retrieved 18 June 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.