Drassi (, "Action") was a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

political party in Greece Prior to the 2012 elections the characteristic Greek political system was a two-party system. The historically dominant parties have been New Democracy and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Under the electoral system a party needs to ...

. The party was founded in 2009 by Stefanos Manos and was led by former

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

member

Theodoros Skylakakis Theodoros Skilakakis (born October 18, 1959) is Alternate Minister for Fiscal Policy of the Hellenic Republic in the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, where he holds the portfolio of Government Expenditure. He is also a former Greek MEP, me ...

. The party had no representation in the Hellenic Parliament or

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Drassi was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party.

History

Stefanos Manos left

(ND) in 1999 to found The Liberals, before later running on ND and

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) electoral lists in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

and 2004 respectively. Unlike The Liberals, Drassi was not founded as an expressly liberal party, but claims to espouse "

common sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...

" as an ideological basis. In its first contested election, the 2009 European elections, Drassi finished ninth with 0.8% of the vote. It subsequently did not participate in the general election in October 2009. In the May 2012 legislative election, Drassi ran in

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

with the Liberal Alliance. It won 1.8% of the vote finishing twelfth overall, directly behind the Democratic Alliance and

Recreate Greece Recreate Greece ( el, Δημιουργία, Ξανά, translit=Dimiourgia, Xana, , ) is a Greek right-wing political party, which has adopted an ideology heavily focused on anti-immigration, anti-Islam and anti-communism. History Founded in Decem ...

, which both had similar liberal ideologies to Drassi. Ahead of new elections in June 2012 legislative election, Drassi and the Liberal Alliance formed an electoral pact with Recreate Greece, while the Democratic Alliance, which they had also approached, refused to join them and ran on the

list instead. In the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

, Drassi ran in

with Recreate Greece. On 5 January 2015, Drassi's leader Skylakakis and the leader of The River party, Stavros Theodorakis, gave a press conference announcing a joint electoral list for the January 2015 legislative election. On 3 September 2015, Drassi decided to again support The River in the upcoming snap September 2015 legislative election. In January 2017, Drassi decided to migrate with ND. In February 2019, Drassi was suspended.

Ideology

Drassi was in favor of a small and flexible government through the decrease of the portion of Greek government expenses the party considers unnecessary. Moreover, the party supported privatizations of public assets, using the proceeds for the repayment of undervalued Greek debt in secondary capital markets. Drassi had been described by the media as a "pro-business-party" supporting free-market reforms.

Electoral results

^* In alliance with Liberal Alliance
^** In alliance with

and Liberal Alliance
^*** In alliance with Recreate Greece

Footnotes

External links

* {{in lang, el Defunct political parties in Greece Political parties established in 2009 Liberal parties in Greece Neoliberal parties in Greece Multicultural parties in Greece Classical liberal parties 2009 establishments in Greece Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Political parties disestablished in 2019