Samaras insists on immediate elections

Limiting the damage caused by the passing of the second memorandum and the expulsion of 21 MPs is the goal of the ND leadership.

In this context, Mr. Antonis Samaras stepped up Makis Voridis' and Adonis Georgiadis’ entry into the party, who had been removed from LAOS because they voted for the Memorandum, thus stressing ND's right-wing character.

Samaras appears to be kicking out his own anti-memorandum MPs and welcoming others who support it.

The two executives from LAOS are known for their extreme positions on national issues and immigration, while they appeal to a right-wing public who are unhappy with Mr. Samaras’ shift towards supporting the Memorandum.

Whether Mr. Samaras will manage to keep this group of voters intact with the recent “injections” of these two transfers is questionable at best. It will also depend on the 21 expelled members and Messrs.Panos Kammenos and Yiannis Manolis, who are communicating with each other in order to coordinate their actions.

It is only a matter of time until they announce their own political movement and take part in the elections in order to represent the ND voters who are against the memorandum. On ND’s part there are moves being made in order to reach out to some of them and return them to the party if they publicly acknowledge the leader’s “rule”.

The mass expulsions from the party cancelled out Mr. Samaras’ efforts to display his party as the only stable and cohesive force in a political landscape that is collapsing due to PASOK’s dissolution and LAOS’ downfall.

In this context, he is accepting requests to send a general invitation to all the figures of center-right parties for them to return to ND. Thus, he will appear as the national saviour who puts the salvation of the country first.

The question seems to "stumble" on Dora Bakoyianni. Some recall that Mrs. Bakoyianni and the MPs that followed her were struck off for voting for the Memorandum, as were Messrs. Voridis and Georgiadis.

In any case, Mr. Samaras wants elections as soon as possible, right after the voting on the PSI and the loan agreement, in order for the consequences of the memorandum not to be felt by society, warning that otherwise things will be unmanageable, whereas going to the ballots will defuse popular anger and ensure a smooth policy after elections.

However, even in this case a clear majority is out of the picture for ND, which is now considering which anti-memorandum forces it can rely upon for shared governance the day after the election.