Antonis Samaras has responded to Dora Bakogianni, taking aim at both her past political record and the internal dynamics within the Mitsotakis family. His reaction follows Bakogianni’s recent public remarks accusing him of planning to launch a party purely out of spite, in order to deny New Democracy an outright majority.
Speaking with his close aide Nikos Tsoutsias, the former prime minister reportedly brushed off Bakogianni’s comments, linking her current stance directly back to their 2009 internal party leadership contest. He is said to have noted that seventeen years have passed since she lost that race to him, suggesting she still hasn’t gotten over it.
As for whether his office would issue a formal statement, Samaras made clear he had no interest in engaging in that kind of exchange, reportedly suggesting she should sort things out with her own brother first.
Reported exchange
According to the report, Tsoutsias informed Samaras that Bakogianni had made further comments, largely repeating familiar arguments and blaming him for the party’s problems, tying them to historical references from 1821 before drifting into what Tsoutsias described as an unclear grudge.
Samaras is said to have waved it off, again pointing to the 17 years since she lost the leadership contest to him, and confirmed no statement would be issued, reportedly telling her to work things out with her brother instead.
Dismissing the government’s polling narrative
Samaras also mocked the Prime Minister’s Office’s attempt to pin New Democracy’s drop to between 23 and 26 percent in the polls on him. In a conversation with the director of his press office, he reportedly voiced frustration at being made a scapegoat, insisting the party’s fall from 40 percent to 20 percent stemmed entirely from its own decisions.
He is said to have pointed out that he had warned in advance on every major issue:
- the legalization of same sex marriage and adoption,
- the handling of national security matters,
- the various scandals,
- damage to the justice system, and
- the need to support small and medium sized businesses against rising prices rather than favoring a small elite.
When his aide brought up comments from government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis, who suggested that Samaras forming a new party would retroactively justify his expulsion from New Democracy, Samaras is reported to have reacted dismissively, comparing the argument to the kind of reasoning used by a small provincial football club chairman.
According to the account, when told that weekly polls again put the party between 23 and 26 percent and that he was being blamed because forming a party could cost New Democracy its majority, Samaras pushed back, noting that an outright majority requires 37 percent. He is said to have argued that he had urged the party to take ten specific steps and it did the opposite, which is why support collapsed from 40 to 20 percent.
