Torches, waving flags and the party’s familiar old anthems set the mood as New Democracy marked its 52nd anniversary on Monday night, in a celebration built almost entirely on nostalgia while wrapped in the imagery of the party’s early years. Giant screens replayed the party’s history, starting with Konstantinos Karamanlis, and moving through every leader who followed him, each caught at a high point. The torches carried a message of their own for longtime members, since a torch served as the party’s emblem in its early decades.
New Democracy’s original torch logo and the tagline “52 Years of New Democracy” at an event marking the party’s 52nd anniversary, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Giannis Panagopoulos/Eurokinissi)
Caps bearing New Democracy’s original torch logo at an event marking the party’s 52nd anniversary, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Giorgos Kontarinis/Eurokinissi)
The nostalgia was a carefully engineered communications exercise. Its chief architect was Konstantinos Kyranakis, the party’s newly appointed secretary general, one of its younger figures and among its most fluent in social media and online trends. Working with General Director Giannis Smyrlis and Stelios Kontadakis, the party’s secretary for organization and director of the party president’s office, Kyranakis built the event around emotion, historical memory and the symbols the party’s faithful know well. The aim was to repackage New Democracy by reminding supporters and members of the good old times, retracing the party’s full journey from its founder to the present day, and nothing in the staging was left to chance.
New Democracy did not hold an anniversary celebration last year, but this year’s circumstances made one almost unavoidable. The party is going through a difficult stretch. Polls suggest an outright parliamentary majority is slipping further away, and voters are drifting toward parties further right. Mitsotakis’s annual address at the Thessaloniki International Fair, passed without leaving much of an impression to either industry stakeholders or the greek society at large. A judicial council’s damning ruling sending Christos Triantopoulos, a former deputy minister, to the Special Court, which tries current and former cabinet members, added another headache. Senior ministers have openly floated early elections, a telling sign of the unease in government, and Greece has effectively entered an extremely long campaign season. Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, meanwhile, has kept up his guerrilla war against the party leadership right up to the eve of the anniversary.
The journey back to the party’s roots also spoke to an old question that refuses to go away inside the conservative camp: whether New Democracy has changed under Mitsotakis. A few ministers and lawmakers raise the issue from time to time. It also lies at the heart of Samaras’s criticism. Against that backdrop, the party reached for every tool it had to close ranks and heal the rifts that have been plaguing it. Mitsotakis’s speech focused on the need for stability, and he once again likened Greece to a steady ship that must hold its course through what he called turbulent times.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at an event marking the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the ‘New Democracy’ party, at the old OSY depot, Athens, October 5, 2026. (Menelaos Myrillas / SOOC)
A Former Leader on Screen and in the Crosshairs
Samaras himself appeared at regular intervals on the giant screens, his face and voice woven into the party’s highlight reel alongside footage of his meetings abroad with Angela Merkel and Barack Obama. From the podium, however, Mitsotakis had messages of his own to send, and the timing was no coincidence. Over the weekend, Samaras, who served as prime minister from 2012 to 2015 and was expelled from New Democracy in 2024, had launched a new round of scathing attacks. The trigger, this time, was European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s references to “Macedonian culture” and a “Macedonian language” in North Macedonia. He also again accused the government of arrogance and condemned the alteration of the site of the Tempi train tragedy.
Mitsotakis was eager to respond to the criticism and show how the party had widened its appeal on his watch. The prime minister reminded the audience that New Democracy had won more than 40% of the vote under Konstantinos Karamanlis, under his own father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, prime minister from 1990 to 1993, under Kostas Karamanlis and under his own leadership. It was a pointed mention, one that implied, without saying so outright, that the party’s appeal had shrunk while Samaras was leading it. Mitsotakis had made a similar point in another seemingly off-the-cuff comment after his news conference at the Thessaloniki International Fair.
Another point that the Prime Minister wanted to stress was the importance of stability. The “ship,” he insisted, must stay steady in rough waters because “we will face major economic turbulence ahead,” adding that “Greece today is held up as a model.” The country, according to Mitsotakis must hold its course amid uncertainty and resist falling once more for “the delusion of the populists,” who he said have returned simply wearing different clothes. The jab was aimed at the rebranding of Alexis Tsipras, the leftist former prime minister whose SYRIZA party governed Greece from 2015 to 2019. Mitsotakis seldom misses a chance to revisit the SYRIZA years, drag that period back into the debate and stir the reflexes of the conservative base, treating memory itself as a rallying tool.
Kostas Karamanlis, prime minister from 2004 to 2009, supplied the celebration’s other borrowed line. Mitsotakis revived the former PM’s old motto, “with modesty and humility” and put it back into circulation on the road to the elections. Its premise is that voters may forgive mistakes but rarely forgive arrogance, or the sense that those in power have lost touch with ordinary people. The motto also doubled as a course correction after two hectic weeks of missteps, internal friction, poorly judged remarks and conduct far removed from the concepts of modesty and humility. The PM’s message was about adopting a more subtle tone, showing more restraint, fewer displays of power and establishing closer contact with the public once again.
Notable Absences and Lingering Unease
Samaras’s absence was a foregone conclusion, and Kostas Karamanlis’s was also largely expected, since the former prime minister is due to speak at an event hosted by the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday. Vangelis Meimarakis, a former party leader, also stayed away because of commitments in Brussels. Among supporters and party officials at the event, the conversation kept returning to two questions: how much damage a possible new party led by Samaras could do, and whether Kostas Karamanlis will stand by New Democracy as the elections approach. In private, most commented that they did not expect the nephew of the party’s founder to work against the party. At the same time, they faulted the prime minister’s office, for the distance that has grown between Mitsotakis and Karamanlis, despite occasional attempts at reconciliation, open channels of communication and the warm words Mitsotakis has had for the former prime minister.
Party members also grumbled about arrogance within the government, with several acknowledging that the debate began about two weeks ago and has not died down since. It was no coincidence that Mitsotakis himself turned to the familiar Karamanlis motto in his short speech. Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, who did not attend the anniversary, had raised the same subject at an event of his own, though in a different way and with a different emphasis. The prime minister’s remarks showed that the problem still preoccupies the party and that the discussion and its fallout continue, despite his attempt at the latest cabinet meeting to put the matter to rest.
