Greece
The story
Postwar Greek politics gradually consolidated into a conservative, a centrist and a left-wing bloc, with nationalism a mainstream current across all three. The Communist Party (KKE), founded in 1918 and illegal until the junta fell in 1974, remains Marxist-Leninist, rejects NATO and EU membership, and has been in government only once, briefly, in 1989.
2004-2026 · SYRIZA, ELAS AND THE LEFT
Syriza, formed in 2004, replaced PASOK as the main left party during the austerity years. Tsipras won in January 2015, held a referendum rejecting the creditors’ terms (61 percent), then accepted a new bailout anyway. He was re-elected in September 2015 and governed with ANEL until 2019. Critics pointed to a 2016 attempt to auction TV licences, struck down by the Council of State. Office moderated the party. After further splits in 2023–24, PASOK overtook it as the official opposition in November 2024, and it now polls one to four percent. In May 2026 Tsipras launched the more moderate Greek Left Alliance (ELAS).
2012-2025 · GOLDEN DAWN’S RISE AND FALL
Golden Dawn, led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, was a violent neo-Nazi fringe until the debt crisis lifted it to seven percent and 21 seats in 2012, helped by food handouts to Greeks only. After the 2013 murder of musician Pavlos Fyssas, a 2020 court ruled it a criminal organisation. Its space was partly filled by the Spartans, backed by jailed Ilias Kasidiaris, who were barred from the 2024 European election, and by Niki, an Orthodox ultra-conservative party.
Also on the ballot
Independent Greeks (ANEL), a New Democracy splinter, was Syriza’s 2015 coalition partner on shared anti-austerity grounds and quit in 2019 over the Prespa Agreement. Course of Freedom, founded in 2016 by Zoe Konstantopoulou, mixes anti-austerity politics with nationalism. MeRA25, Varoufakis’s party, fell out of parliament in 2023. In May 2026 Maria Karystianou, whose daughter was killed in the 2023 Tempi train disaster, launched Hope for Democracy, which briefly polled in double digits.
2007-2026 · THE NATIONALIST RIGHT
LAOS entered parliament in 2007 but collapsed after joining the 2011 national-unity government. Greek Solution, founded in 2016 by ex-LAOS MP Kyriakos Velopoulos, combines ethnic nationalism, anti-immigration policy and Russia-friendly leanings, and won 9.3 percent in the 2024 European election. Voice of Reason, founded in 2023 by Afroditi Latinopoulou, campaigns against immigration and the “woke agenda” yet condemns Russian aggression, and it sits in Patriots for Europe.
EP elections
KKE has sat in the EP since Greece joined in 1981, leaving the GUE group in 2014 over its perceived drift from radical ideas. In 2024 Syriza won 14.9%; Greek Solution took two seats (9.3%), and Niki (4.4%), Course of Freedom (3.4%) and Voice of Reason (3.0%) one each.
KKE
Communist Party of Greece
- Economics Left
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Hard euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism High
Syriza
Coalition of the Radical Left
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Medium
EL
Greek Solution
- Economics Right
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Medium
CF
Course of Freedom
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Medium
ELAS
Greek Left Alliance
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low
Niki
Victory
- Economics Right
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Medium
FL
Voice of Reason
- Economics Centre
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low