ND to elect new political committee secretary with eye on Tsipras’s next move
Main opposition New Democracy elects the secretary of its new political committee on Wednesday as part of the wide-ranging bid of party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis to reform and restructure the conservatives. The sole candidate, lawmaker Lefteris Avgenakis, will be appointed by the political committee that was voted in last weekend during New Democracy’s 10th annual congress, which Mitsotakis presided over for the first time.
Avgenakis was among the conservative deputies who backed the election of Mitsotakis to the party helm earlier this year.
In his speech at Wednesday’s first scheduled meeting of the 150-member political committee, Mitsotakis is expected to reiterate his call for the resignation of the SYRIZA-led coalition government, whose members he has repeatedly described as “opportunists.”
Party sources say his policy of an outright showdown with the government is driven by the belief that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is increasingly becoming a lame duck as the country’s negotiations with creditors continue to stall, and that the premier is mulling another sudden political “manouver” like last year’s call for a referendum.
To this effect, the party mechanism has reportedly been put on standby to cope with any scenario that will arise. Furthermore, sources say Mitsotakis will reiterate his open-door message to lure voters from across the political spectrum who want to secure Greece’s place in European Union and reject all forms of demagoguery.
