The Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI;

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ΔΗΚΚΙ – Δημοκρατικό Κοινωνικό Κίνημα, ''Dimokratiko Koinoniko Kinima'') is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. The party was founded in 1995 by

Dimitris Tsovolas Dimitris Tsovolas ( el, Δημήτριος Τσοβόλας; 4 September 1942 – 25 February 2022) was a Greek politician who served as Minister of Finance from 1985 to 1989. Early life and education Tsovolas was born at Melissourgoi, a village ...

and several ex-members of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

(PASOK), the then ruling

party.

History

Formation and early success

In the 1996 legislative election, DIKKI received 4.43% of the vote and 9 seats in the

Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule (ancient Greece), Boule of the Greeks, Hellenes, label=none), also kno ...

. In the 1999 election to the European Parliament, the party received 6.85% of the vote and 2 seats in the European Parliament, and was a full member of the

European United Left - Nordic Green Left European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

group.

Failures and disputes

After these initial successes, however, DIKKI failed to elect members to the Hellenic Parliament on two consecutive elections; it received 2.69% of the vote in the 2000 legislative election and 1.8% of the vote in the 2004 legislative election. After the 2004 election, Tsovolas unilaterally decided to dissolve DIKKI and give the party possessions away to the Greek state. That decision led to a conflict between the party leader and the National Committee, who voted against the dissolution; there are accusations that Tsovolas went through these actions, because he was planning to be readmitted in PASOK in the near future. The National Committee went to law and the court ruled that the party is legally administered by the national executive bodies, thus it cannot cease to exist unless the National Congress or the National Committee takes such decision. The party possessions were returned and Tsovolas was expelled.

Reorientation

In the local elections of 2006 DIKKI supported many tickets led by the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a political party in Greece. Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its curren ...

(KKE), and numerous party members (for the size of the party) were elected in local councils. Moreover, DIKKI participated in All Workers Militant Front (PAME), a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist coordination centre closely related with KKE. Although it was expected that co-operation between the two parties would become permanent, on August 22, 2007 DIKKI announced that it was participating in the

Coalition of the Radical Left The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

(SYRIZA),DIKKI press release
which received 5.04% of the vote in the

legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on September 16, 2007. On February 20, 2015, the party announced it was severing ties with SYRIZA. In the summer of 2015, it joined an alliance with Popular Unity. It would remain affiliated until June 2019, when it joined an electoral coalition with the United Popular Front.

Electoral results

Parliament

European Parliament

References

External links

*
Greek election results
via the Greek Ministry of Internal Affairs {{Greek political parties 1995 establishments in Greece Eurosceptic parties in Greece Former components of Syriza Political parties established in 1995 Socialist parties in Greece