PASOK heavy weight launches own political move; number of gov’t MPs drops to 166 seats

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics

Loverdos -Venizelos: that was “last year”…

The much-anticipated political move of former health minister Andreas Loverdos was launched on Monday. Former PASOK heavy weight launched his own political movement called “Radical Social-Democratic Alliance”. Prompt was the answer of PASOK leader, Evangelos Venizelos who expelled Loverdos from the party. As most probably Loverdos will keep his parliamentary seat as “independent MP” PASOK sees the number of its MPs decreased to 25. It is still not known whether other PASOK cadres will follow Loverdos.

With the Loverdos expulsion, Samaras coalition three-party coalition government has 166 seats in a parliament of 300.

Andreas Loverdos, one of the leading cadres of governing coalition partner PASOK, was struck from the party’s parliamentary group shortly after announcing on Monday that he had founded a new “movement” called the Radical Social-Democratic Alliance.
Loverdos told Skai television that the aim of the movement was to ultimately develop into a party, though he insisted that there was no rift with PASOK.
However, the leader of the socialist party, Evangelos Venizelos (photo), reacted to the announcement by striking Loverdos from the parliamentary group, saying “Loverdos founded his movement not as a trend or a movement within PASOK but as a springboard for a new party.”
“At a time when PASOK is striving to create a new ‘we,’ someone opted for a new ‘me.’ What a shame,” Venizelos said.
With Loverdos out, PASOK now has 25 MPs in Parliament and has seen its support plummeting in opinion polls following its support of government austerity measures. (ekathimerini)