ATHENS, June 9 — The Independent Greeks party, previously in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ coalition government, said today it will not run in an upcoming general election because of its poor showing in EU parliamentary polls.
“Independent Greeks and I decided today to announce our decision not to run for the general election that will take place next month,” Panos Kammenos, former minister of defence, said.
“We heard the voice of the Greek people. It is my duty to continue serving the Greek people”, he added.
Independent Greeks, a right-wing, anti-bailout party, formed in 2012, managed to score only 0.8 per cent of the vote in the end-May EU elections.
In the 2015 Greek parliament elections, it garnered 10 seats on 3.69 per cent of the vote.
The party, which played a key role in helping the left-wing Tsipras pass hated EU-mandated austerity measures in parliament, went into a slide after Kammenos pulled out of the government in January over a Macedonia name deal which he vehemently opposed.
Backed by Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Premier Zoran Zaev, the deal ended a long-running dispute between the two countries.
Kammenos’ resignation triggered a confidence vote in parliament that Tsipras won comfortably with the help of some of the Independent Greeks lawmakers.
Tsipras’s Syriza party however made a poor showing in the EU as well as local elections at the weekend.
Syriza scored less than 24 per cent in the European ballot compared to more than 33 per cent for the main opposition conservative party New Democracy.
That result prompted Tsipras to call parliamentary elections for July 7, three months earlier than scheduled. — AFP
