Democratic Left (, , DIMAR) was a social-democratic

political party in Greece Prior to the 2012 elections the characteristic Greek political system was a two-party system. The historically dominant parties have been New Democracy and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Under the electoral system a party needs to ...

. Formed as a split from Synaspismós, DIMAR was a

minor party A minor party is a political party that plays a smaller (in some cases much smaller, even insignificant in comparison) role than a major party in a country's politics and elections. The difference between minor and major parties can be so gre ...

supporting the Samaras cabinet from 21 June 2012 to 21 June 2013. After being a member of the Democratic Alignment (DIMAR) and the

Movement for Change Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy F ...

(KINAL), it affiliated to Syriza in 2019. The party was dissolved in 2022.

History

Foundation

DIMAR was founded on 27 June 2010 when the Renewal Wing platform of the left-wing party Synaspismós, a component of the

Coalition of the Radical Left The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

(Syriza)—among them MPs

Fotis Kouvelis Fotis-Fanourios Kouvelis ( el, Φώτης-Φανούριος Κουβέλης; born 3 September 1948) is a Greek lawyer and leftist politician. Biography Kouvelis was born in Volos. He studied law and political science at the University of Athe ...

, Thanasis Leventis, Nikos Tsoukalis, and

Grigoris Psarianos Grigoris Psarianos (Greek: ), born 1954 in Athens, is a Greek politician, a former member of the Hellenic Parliament for The River, who was representing Athens B. Biography Ηe was born in 1954 in Athens. His mother was the sister of Civil W ...

—exited Synaspismós at its 6th congress. They were joined by more than 550 individuals. At a subsequent national conference of the Renewal Wing, 170 members were elected to national policy committee of the new party. The first conference of DIMAR was held on 31 March – 3 April 2011. It elected

as the party's leader with 97.31% of the vote. On 22 March 2012, six MPs from the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

(PASOK) joined the party, which raised the number of Democratic Left MPs to 10, the party was eligible to form a parliamentary group. The minor party

Free Citizens Free Citizens (Greek: Ελεύθεροι Πολίτες) is a political party that was founded in November 2011 by the independent deputy Vasilis Oikonomou, who had voted "present" in the vote for the memorandum and afterwards was expelled from th ...

also joined the Democratic Left on 22 March 2012.

2012 elections and governing coalition

In the May 2012 legislative election DIMAR received 386,116 votes (6.1%) and elected 19 MPs in the Greek Parliament, making it the seventh biggest party in the Hellenic Parliament. In the June 2012 legislative election, the DIMAR won 6.3% of the vote and 17 seats, making it the sixth largest party by seat count. It joined the Samaras cabinet with

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

(ND) and PASOK. In November 2012, the party decided to vote abstained/present to the labor market reform and "Midterm fiscal plan 2013-16" as part of the sixth austerity package negotiated with the Troika, while they cast a supportive vote for the "Fiscal budget 2013". As the party did not vote directly against the crucial reforms, it was afterwards possible to continue being a part of the three-party coalition government with New Democracy and PASOK. Following this political line however came at the price. Three of its MPs voted against the party line on the reforms, and consequently were asked to leave the party, thus reducing the party's number of MPs from 17 to 14. Democratic Left’s political charter has no paragraphs enabling for the exclusion of MPs from the party, but the three MPs being asked to leave were expected to follow the request, as they fundamentally disagreed with the party's political line. In April 2013, two former Democratic Left MPs, Odysseas Voudouris and Paris Moutsinas, were expelled from DIMAR's parliamentary group after having voted against the coalition government's seventh austerity package. They announced to form a new party, stating in a letter to party leader

that their former party had "mutated" into a centrist one.

Back in opposition

On 21 June 2013, DIMAR left the governing coalition with ND and PASOK in protest of the unilateral closure of the state broadcasting corporation,

Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( el, Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση AE, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi SA) or ERT () is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Greece. History Overview ERT b ...

(ERT) which was opposed by both DIMAR and PASOK. The withdrawal left Samaras with a tiny majority with 153 New Democracy/PASOK MPs. In the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

on 25 May 2014, DIMAR's vote collapsed, with the party receiving less than one fifth of the popular support it had in the national elections two years before (1.20%, down from 6.25%) and failing to win any seats in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

2015 legislative elections

On 4 January 2015 DIMAR announced it would contest the upcoming election in cooperation with the Greens. In the 25 January 2015 legislative election, the joint electoral list received a mere 0.49% of the vote, thus failing to return any DIMAR MPs to the Hellenic Parliament. On 30 August 2015, ahead of the forthcoming September snap election, PASOK announced an electoral pact with DIMAR, named the Democratic Coalition. In the September 2015 legislative election on 20 September 2015, the PASOK–DIMAR list received 6.3% of the vote, and returned 17 seats.

Opposition

DIMAR was one of the founding members of the

(KINAL) in March 2018. However, DIMAR left KINAL in January 2019. In April 2019, DIMAR affiliated with Syriza, ahead of the 2019 European election.

Election results

Hellenic Parliament

European Parliament

References

External links

* {{Greek political parties Political parties established in 2010 Political parties disestablished in 2022 2010 establishments in Greece Components of Syriza Democratic socialist parties in Europe Secular parties in Greece Social democratic parties in Greece Pro-European political parties in Greece