The political return of Antonis Samaras, rumoured to launch the party For Greece on 30 June 2025, is more than an act of personal revival. Samaras’ Party for Greece to launch on June 30th could become the catalyst that breaks apart New Democracy from within, triggering a collapse of Mitsotakis’ increasingly autocratic rule and reshaping the Greek political landscape.
While some dismiss the move as bluster or a nostalgic swan song, others see something more dangerous for the ruling party: a deeply divisive presence, re-emerging at the most politically fragile moment.
A controlled party or a time bomb?
For weeks, speculation has swirled about whether Samaras truly intends to return to frontline politics—or whether this is part of a broader New Democracy strategy to fragment the right and redirect discontent. But whatever the intent, the result may spiral beyond control.
Samaras remains a polarising figure with a long memory in the Greek political psyche: the man who broke New Democracy once before in 1993, who governed in coalition with PASOK, who lost twice to Alexis Tsipras, and who helped usher in the populist Kammenos-ANEL alliance through the failed “Zappeion” promises.
He is not a unifier. He is a disruptor.
New Democracy: Cracks beneath the surface
While Mitsotakis maintains a hold over the party machinery and media apparatus, internal discontent is mounting. Samaras, long estranged from the current leadership, is tapping into simmering frustration among conservative voters and sidelined party figures.
The message is simple: Mitsotakis has lost the right-wing base. Samaras offers them an outlet. Whether that outlet is viable electorally is secondary—the very fact that it exists could cost New Democracy the majority.
Even polls showing Samaras’ potential party at 5–6% are enough to tip the balance. In a tight election, that’s enough to deny Mitsotakis an outright win and force the formation of a coalition, or even lead to his resignation.
This isn’t just political noise. It’s a credible threat to the continuity of government.
A fracture that could free Greece
Whether Samaras intends to genuinely challenge Mitsotakis or simply leverage influence, his presence alone has reopened old wounds in New Democracy. MPs, local powerbrokers, and even media allies are being forced to pick sides. The illusion of party unity is cracking.
And that’s exactly what Greece needs.
For years now, Mitsotakis has ruled with an iron grip—curtailing democratic freedoms, undermining institutions, and centralising power. Surveillance scandals, media suppression, and constitutional overreach have become routine. This is no longer a liberal democracy. It is a managed regime with the veneer of parliamentary rule.
If it takes a split from within—even from a figure as controversial as Samaras—to break that grip, then so be it.
The end justifies the fracture
Mitsotakis’ government must fall—for the sake of democratic integrity, institutional accountability, and national dignity. If the vehicle for that collapse is an internal revolt, it is not a tragedy—it is poetic justice.
Samaras may not lead a movement for renewal, but he may yet cause the internal combustion needed to bring the whole house down.
And when it does, Greece must be ready—with real democratic alternatives, untainted by legacy corruption, authoritarian instinct, or media manipulation.
Because beyond the fall of Mitsotakis lies the real battle: restoring democracy to a country long governed by theatre, manipulation, and fear.
