Movement for Democracy () is a political party formed in

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 ...

on 23 November 2024 by the former leader of

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

, Stefanos Kasselakis after the party's extraordinary congress refused to approve his candidacy in the internal elections. The party's founding declaration was signed by, among others, five independent MPs, formerly members of the Syriza parliamentary group.

History

Syriza and Kasselakis

Following Syriza's disappointing performance in the

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May in the Southern Hemisphere is the ...

and

June June is the sixth and current month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars—the latter the most widely used calendar in the world. Its length is 30 days. June succeeds May and precedes July. This month marks the start of su ...

2023 legislative elections,

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...

, its long-time leader, stood down from his position. In the following

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...

, Kasselakis as an outsider candidate was elected to succeed Tsipras. Kasselakis set about moving the party towards the centre, a controversial move which led to several figures leaving Syriza and the formation of party splits, including

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

. Internally, Syriza faced a crisis when key officials of central committee of the party attempted and succeeded to oust Kasselakis as party leader on accusations of "autocratic behavior". Kasselakis attempted to stand as a candidate in the new leadership election but was barred.

New party

Following his expulsion from Syriza, Stefanos Kasselakis announced the creation of a new political initiative. Initially unnamed, he opened the party's name to a public vote. On November 23, 2024, he unveiled the party’s name as "Kínima Dimokratías" (transl.: ''Movement for Democracy'') In April 2025, the party formalized its internal structures in preparation for elections later that month. It also expressed its intent to join the

European Democratic Party The European Democratic Party (EDP; French: ''Parti démocrate européen'', PDE), also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration. Within the European Parliament, its MEPs form th ...

(EDP). A proposal for membership was submitted to party members for an internal vote on April 8–9. On April 10, 2025, Kínima Dimokratías officially joined the EDP.
In May 2025, the party held elections for its presidency. Kasselakis faced a challenge from Elias Michalakopoulos, a fellow party member. Kasselakis secured the presidency with 96.8% of the vote.

Affiliated Members of Parliament

The party has stated it seeks to at some point in 2025 to form an official

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

. Until such time those MPs who are members or are affiliated with the party in a personal capacity sit as independents within parliament. Evangelos Apostolakis, an independent (formerly SYRIZA) MP, has been associating himself with the party, but has not joined the party. :

References

External links

* * https://democrats.eu/en/the-european-democratic-party-welcomes-greeces-movement-for-democracy/ 2024 establishments in Greece 2024 in Greek politics Political parties established in 2024 Pro-European political parties in Greece {{Greece-poli-stub