New Democracy (ND; , ) is a liberal-conservative political party in Greece. In contemporary Greek politics, New Democracy has been the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties along with its historic rival, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). New Democracy and PASOK were created in the wake of the toppling of the military junta in 1974, and ruled Greece alternately for the next four decades. Following the electoral decline of PASOK, New Democracy remained one of the two major parties in Greece, the other being the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). The party was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and in the same year it formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic. New Democracy is a member of the European People's Party, the largest European political party since 1999, the Centrist Democrat International, and the International Democrat Union.
The support of New Democracy comes from a wide electorate base ranging from centrists to conservatives, and nationalists to post-modernists. From a geographical perspective, its main support base is in the rural areas of Greece as well as the city centers of Athens and Thessaloniki. Its support is generally weaker in areas like Arta, Achaia and Crete, with the exception of some parts in Chania and Rethymno. Traditionally, New Democracy receives greatest percentages in Laconia, Messenia, Kastoria and Serres. Having spent four and a half years in opposition to SYRIZA's government, New Democracy regained its majority in the Hellenic Parliament and returned to government under Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the 2019 Greek legislative election. The party secured an absolute majority in Parliament in the June 2023 Greek legislative election.
New Democracy has faced considerable criticism for its role in the fiscal crisis that engulfed Greece in 2010, as well as its financial management during the 2000s. Numerous academic scholars have highlighted the party's penchant for lacking transparency concerning financial data and resource utilization, which has raised concerns about their accountability as a political entity within the country. Moreover, New Democracy has come under fire for its substantial debt to the Greek state, amounting to a staggering 435 million Euros as of 2023.
History
Foundation
New Democracy was founded on 4 October 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis, in the beginning of the metapolitefsi era following the fall of the Greek military junta. Karamanlis, who had already served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1955 to 1963, was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of the Third Hellenic Republic in a national unity government on 24 July 1974, until the first free elections of the new era. He intended New Democracy to be a more modern and progressive political party than the right-wing parties that ruled Greece before the 1967 Greek coup d'état, including his own National Radical Union (ERE). The party's ideology was defined as "radical liberalism", a term defined as "the prevalence of free market rules with the decisive intervention of the state in favour of social justice." The party was formed out of a National Radical Union core and dissident members of the pre-Junta Centre Union. It included members of both former Monarchist and Venizelist backgrounds.
First government (1974–1981) In the 1974 legislative election, New Democracy obtained a massive parliamentary majority of 220 seats with a record 54.37% of the vote, a result attributed to the personal appeal of Karamanlis to the electorate. Karamanlis was elected as Prime Minister and soon decided to hold a referendum on 8 December 1974 for the issue of the form of government; with a large majority of 69.17%, monarchy was eventually abolished in favour of a republic. The next major issue for the New Democracy cabinet was the creation of the Constitution of Greece, which entered into force in 1975 and established Greece as a parliamentary republic. On 12 June 1975, Greece applied to join the European Communities, of which it was already an associate member since 1961, while it had already been readmitted to the Council of Europe on 28 November 1974.