Popular Unity (Greece)


Popular Unity is a left-wing political party in Greece.
Popular Unity was founded on 21 August 2015 by twenty five parliamentarians formerly affiliated to the Coalition of the Radical Left, as a reaction to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' handling of the Greek bailout agreement of 2015. It is led by the former Minister of Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis. Due to receiving 2.86% of the popular vote in the September 2015 election it has no seats in the Parliament.

History

Popular Unity was founded on 21 August 2015 by 25 parliamentarians formerly affiliated to the Coalition of the Radical Left, as a reaction to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' handling of the Greek bailout agreement of 2015. At foundation Popular Unity was the third largest party in the Greek parliament. It is led by the former Minister of Energy in the Tsipras cabinet, Panagiotis Lafazanis. Dimitris Stratoulis and Costas Isychos, who were sacked in July 2015, also joined the new party.

Election September 2015

On 2 September 2015, the party programme for the snap election on September 20 was published. The party received about 2.9% of the vote, below the 3% threshold to win any seats in parliament. In response to the result the party said, 'we lost the game but not the war'.

Naming

The name of the party is inspired by Popular Unity, the Chilean political alliance led by Salvador Allende.

Policies

The party favours Greek withdrawal from the eurozone and reinstating the drachma as Greece's national currency. According to founding member Stathis Kouvelakis, a former member of Syriza's Central Committee, the new party supports socialist internationalism, pacifism, Greece's exit from NATO, and breaking military agreements with Israel.

Election results

Hellenic Parliament

European Parliament

Members of Parliament

Popular Unity had 26 members of the Hellenic Parliament prior to the September 2015 election, all of whom defected from Syriza. In alphabetical order, they were: