Following the resignation of Thanasis Avgerinos as press spokesperson and his subsequent expulsion from Maria Karystianou’s party, Hope for Democracy, actress Katerina Moutsatsou has also announced her departure, along with two other senior members.
In a statement, Moutsatsou said she was leaving the movement but would continue to fight for the “dream” that “unites us all” and seeks “democracy, freedom and social emancipation.”
Moutsatsou was among the public figures associated with the party’s founding. She co-hosted the event marking its founding declaration and later joined its Culture Committee.
School psychologist Maria Ioannidou, a member of the party’s Political Council and a close associate of Maria Karystianou, also announced her departure, as did trade unionist Takis Kotsorgios, president of the Panhellenic Network of Coastal Fishing Associations.
According to Pulse, support for Maria Karystianou’s party fell from 11% in May to 8.5% in July, down about 2.5 percentage points in two months.
Other notable departures include Vasilis Kokotsakis, a forensic expert in the Tempi train crash case, Athanasios Papanikolaou, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and founding member, and Dimitris Savvidis, a founding member representing the Greek diaspora.
“Opinion polls show that support for Maria Karystianou’s party fell by about 50% between the end of May and the end of July,” Yiannis Konstantinidis, associate professor of electoral behaviour at the University of Macedonia, told Kathimerini.
“Hope for Democracy has now lost nearly 70% of the support it had among left-wing and centrist voters in May, while its losses among right-wing and far-right voters have been much smaller,” he added.
Sources: Kathimerini, Ef.Syn.
