Tsipras emerges as Greece’s second political force days after launching new party

Former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ newly launched “Greek Left Alliance” (ELAS) has overtaken the socialist PASOK party as the country’s potential main opposition force, according to the first opinion poll published after his political comeback.

The survey, released on 29 May, shows Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party remaining the leading political force with 23.5% support, according to an ALCO poll for flash.gr. This nevertheless marks a slight increase of 0.7 percentage points compared with the agency’s previous survey on 11 May.

For a long period, New Democracy maintained roughly double the support of the second-largest party, until now PASOK.

However, its current result is sufficiently weak that, if elections were held today, the party would have only limited chances of securing an outright parliamentary majority and would probably struggle to find a coalition partner.

The conservatives have suffered significant political damage from the cost-of-living crisis, as well as from two major scandals linked to surveillance practices and EU agricultural subsidies. Another major blow came from the 2023 Tempi rail disaster, which shocked Greek society and contributed to the rise of the political movement led by Maria Karystianou, whose teenage daughter was among the 57 victims.

Tsipras’ “Greek Left Alliance” receives 12.8% support, while PASOK drops to 10%, down 2.2 percentage points compared with 11 May.

“Hope for Democracy”, the movement led by physician and railway safety activist Maria Karystianou, ranks fourth with 9.5%.

Karystianou’s political rise began during the mass protests over allegations of a cover-up surrounding the Tempi train crash, in which she lost her 20-year-old daughter.

While justice stalls in Greece, EPPO pushes forward in the Tempi railway tragedy probe

Her movement is attracting considerable support from right-wing voters, narrowing the gap with PASOK and overtaking both the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the populist right-wing Greek Solution party. The KKE stands at 6.4%.

Tsipras is attempting to unite Greece’s fragmented and often deeply divided left and centre-left forces, while Karystianou is positioning herself closer to the anti-establishment right.

Asked who appears to be Mitsotakis’ most serious future challenger ahead of the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for spring 2027, 29% of respondents answered “no one”. Tsipras was named by 25%, PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis by 15%, and Karystianou by 7%.

The poll also points to the near collapse of Tsipras’ former party SYRIZA, which governed Greece between 2015 and 2019. SYRIZA receives just 1.5%, remaining below the 3% threshold required for parliamentary representation.

Two days ago, Tsipras officially registered his new party, the “Greek Left Alliance” (ELAS), arguing that his political return after a three-year absence would prove “useful” for the country.

The 51-year-old politician said the core principles of the new movement would be “democracy and justice, because without justice democracy collapses, while justice cannot function without strong democracy”.

The former SYRIZA leader visited Greece’s Supreme Court accompanied by retired judge Maria Lepenioti, who presided over the trial against the neo-Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party.

Tsipras rose to power at the height of Greece’s financial crisis on promises to swiftly end the deeply unpopular austerity measures imposed by international creditors, who were keeping the country afloat through bailout loans.

After several turbulent months during which Greece came close to exiting the eurozone, he dramatically reversed course and agreed to further austerity measures.

Re-elected in September 2015, Tsipras suffered a decisive defeat to Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party in 2019 and again in 2023, after which he resigned as SYRIZA leader.

Greece: Alexis Tsipras’ new party and the strategic bet behind the “Radev model”

Sources: BGNES, Katimerini

Caption: Alexis Tsipras, former Greek prime minister and former leader of SYRIZA party, greets supporters during the inauguration of a new party, called ELAS, with the Acropolis Hill in the background, in Athens, Greece, 26 May 2026. ELAS stands for ‘Greek Leftist Coalition’. EPA/YANNIS KOLESIDIS