Center-Left coalition vies with ultra-Right for 3rd place in Greek parliament

A center-left coalition of parties vied with the ultra-right Golden Dawn party for third place in the Greek parliament on Friday, after former Prime Minister George Papandreou's comeback on the Greek political scene.

The former premier, who was in office from 2009 to 2011, announced on Thursday that the Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO), the party he founded two years ago, was joining forces with his former comrades of PASOK under the umbrella of the Democratic Alignment after failing to enter the assembly.

The Democratic Alignment led by Fofi Gennimata was launched three weeks before the last general elections in Greece in September 2015, merging PASOK -- the party his father Andreas Papandreou had founded in the 70s and George Papandreou led from 2004 to 2012 -- with the Democratic Left (DIMAR).

Both Gennimata and Papandreou urged for reunification of the fragmented "progressive forces" of the center-left as an alternative to the now ruling radical left SYRIZA party and the opposition conservatives to "support efforts to overcome the Greek debt crisis."

On Friday, two Members of Parliament (MPs) joined the ranks of the Democratic Alignment, strengthening its parliamentary group which now counts 18 deputies, as many as Golden Dawn.

Ilchan Achmet left the centrist Potami(River) party to join the Democratic Alignment, while Leonidas Grigorakos, who was elected with the Democratic Alignment in 2015 and turned independent in 2016, rejoined the party.

Shortly afterwards, DIMAR officials called on the River party, which now holds seven seats in the 300-member parliament, to also join the initiative.

In the September 2015 elections, the Democratic Alignment won 6.3 percent of the votes, the River 4.1 percent, KIDISO did not participate, while the Golden Dawn garnered 7 percent of the votes. Endit