The Movement of Free Citizens (), also known by its

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

KEP, was a short-lived, right-of-center political party in

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 ...

. It was a personality-driven party, founded and led by

Dimitris Avramopoulos Dimitris Avramopoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Αβραμόπουλος) is a Greek politician of the conservative New Democracy party, and former career diplomat. He has served in various high-level cabinet posts, including Minister for Foreign Aff ...

. After resigning from the diplomatic corps in 1993, Avramopoulos began his political career within the conservative

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

. First a member of 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 ...

and then

Mayor of Athens The Mayor of Athens is the head of the Municipality of Athens, the largest district of Athens. Kingdom of Greece (1832–1924) Second Hellenic Republic (1924–1935) Kingdom of Greece (1935–1941) Hellenic State (1941–1944) Kingdom ...

, Avramopoulos became one of the most popular Greek politicians. In 2001, the conservative

party was suffering from many internal problems, notably the continuous conflict between its president

Costas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis ( el, Κώστας Καραμανλής, ), is a Greek politician who served as the ...

and the former Prime Minister

Constantine Mitsotakis Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given nam ...

, and its opposition to the government 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) seemed ineffective. In this somewhat stagnant situation for the conservative

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

, Avramopoulos decided to step forward and create a party of his own. His personal appeal drove many new people by his side. However, it was clear that KEP's main asset was Avramopoulos' own charisma, who was attracting most of the publicity. Other famous people involved in KEP were ''Eliza Vozenberg'', a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

who served as the party's spokeswoman, and the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

''Mattheos Tsoungas''. The first polls targeting the Greek voters revealed that KEP's percentage in an election would be as high as 24%, something extraordinary and unusual for a new party in Greece. In newer polls, though, the party's percentage went on a free fall, and much of the initial enthusiasm quickly faded away. To his supporters' annoyance and surprise, in 2002, Avramopoulos unexpectedly terminated KEP's existence as a party, pointing at its financial shortcomings as an excuse. He announced that KEP would continue operating as a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

, and this effectively marked Avramopoulos' return to New Democracy. Few of KEP's members opposed its president's decision and stated that they would continue working towards their political goals inside the party and without Avramopoulos. However, all attempts to revive KEP were unsuccessful. Most of the party's members followed Avramopoulos' return to New Democracy, few of them went to PASOK, while some others have remained politically inactive ever since, overwhelmed by disappointment.

See also