The Democratic Social Movement (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Δημοκρατικό Κοινωνικό Κίνημα, ΔΗΚΚΙ; ''Dimokratiko Koinoniko Kinima'', DIKKI) is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The party was founded in 1995 by

Dimitris Tsovolas Dimitris Tsovolas (; 4 September 1942 – 25 February 2022) was a Greek politician who served as Minister of Finance from 1985 to 1989. Early life and education Tsovolas was born at Melissourgoi, a village outside Arta, Epirus in 1942. He wen ...

and several ex-members of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

(PASOK), the then ruling

party.

History

Formation and early success

In the 1996 legislative election, DIKKI received 4.43% of the vote and 9 seats in the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

. In the 1999 election to the European Parliament, the party received 6.85% of the vote and 2 seats in the European Parliament, and was a full member of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left group.

Failures and disputes

After these initial successes, however, DIKKI failed to elect members to the Hellenic Parliament on two consecutive elections; it received 2.69% of the vote in the 2000 legislative election and 1.8% of the vote in the 2004 legislative election. After the 2004 election, Tsovolas unilaterally decided to dissolve DIKKI and give the party possessions away to the Greek state. That decision led to a conflict between the party leader and the National Committee, who voted against the dissolution; there are accusations that Tsovolas went through these actions, because he was planning to be readmitted in PASOK in the near future. The National Committee went to law and the court ruled that the party is legally administered by the national executive bodies, thus it cannot cease to exist unless the National Congress or the National Committee takes such decision. The party possessions were returned and Tsovolas was expelled.

Reorientation

In the local elections of 2006 DIKKI supported many tickets led by the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

(KKE), and numerous party members (for the size of the party) were elected in local councils. Moreover, DIKKI participated in All Workers Militant Front (PAME), a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist coordination centre closely related with KKE. Although it was expected that co-operation between the two parties would become permanent, on August 22, 2007 DIKKI announced that it was participating in the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA),DIKKI press release
which received 5.04% of the vote in the legislative election held on September 16, 2007. On February 20, 2015, the party announced it was severing ties with SYRIZA. In the summer of 2015, it joined an alliance with Popular Unity. It would remain affiliated until June 2019, when it joined an electoral coalition with the United Popular Front and Agricultural Livestock Party of Greece. In March 2021, it joined the

Free People Free People is an American bohemian apparel and lifestyle retail company that sells women's clothing, accessories, shoes, intimates, and swimwear. It also has a beauty and wellness category, which includes products such as cosmetics, skin, an ...

of George Trangas, from which it left a few months later.

Electoral results

Parliament

European Parliament

References

External links

* {{Greek political parties 1995 establishments in Greece Components of Syriza Eurosceptic parties in Greece Political parties established in 1995 Socialist parties in Greece