Andreas Loverdos, a former PASOK Socialist minister who was often at odds with his his party’s leader Evangelos Venizelos, has bolted to form his own party called Pact for a New Greece and blistering his former party for becoming a coalition partner in Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ government and supporting the New Democracy Conservative agenda.
The ex-minister had been planning the launch of his party for several months and had originally intended to call it RIKSSY, the Greek acronym for Radical Movement of Social Democratic Alliance, but he reportedly decided to drop this name as it resembles the Greek word meaning rift and would have negative associations.
Addressing a press conference, Loverdos said his aim was not to create “another protest group” but a “new and responsible party whose members will come chiefly from the private sector.” He didn’t say what his positions or platform were or how he would differ from several other Greek parties from the splintered left.
Positioning his party between conservative New Democracy and the main leftist opposition SYRIZA on Greece’s political spectrum, Loverdos pointed to disenchanted supporters of PASOK and Democratic Left as potential reservoirs for his own party support. Since Loverdos announced his intention to form a “pro-European, reformist” movement last December, some 2,000 members have reportedly already joined.
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