DIMAR’s demise

In the months that followed Greece’s 2012 national election, the Democratic Left (DIMAR) party of Fotis Kouvelis, a moderate socialist, went on to shoulder part of the responsibility in the bid to rescue the debt-hit country, joining the coalition government along with conservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK. The small left-of-center party threw its weight behind efforts to fulfill the country’s obligations to it international lenders.

In the eyes of a section of centrist voters, DIMAR offered a solution to a key dilemma as it steered clear of populist posturing and polarizing rhetoric.

However, its decision to defect from the power-sharing administration (with New Democracy and PASOK) and Kouvelis’s endless political wavering inevitably took a hefty toll on the party, which saw its popularity plunge.

It’s a shame because many responsible voters had put their trust in the political venture that was DIMAR, only to see their hopes and expectations sacrificed on the altar of misguided cynical opportunism.