“In the 2nd electoral district of Thessaloniki, which was and is traditionally a strong stronghold of the New Democracy, I want to make a bet that we can increase our percentages even more and we can squeeze parties and small parties, which suddenly came to the fore, without saying anything at all, invoking only the feeling”, emphasized the president of ND Kyriakos Mitsotakis, addressing the citizens of Oreiokastro, Thessaloniki.

“Obviously we are satisfied with our percentages, but it did not escape my attention that various parties and small groups to the right of New Democracy gathered quite high percentages. And I want to take this opportunity to address all our fellow citizens, who believe that there are parties, especially small parties, non-existent parties, which we do not know, which can authentically express religious sentiment“, said Mr. Mitsotakis and continued:

“And I want to tell them that faith is not imprisoned within the boundaries of some small parties. Faith and Orthodoxy unite, not divide. Caesar’s to Caesar’s and God’s to God’s. So, let those who want to glorify themselves by hiding, put aside these logics, that, allegedly, they express the Church and Orthodoxy and some others are less orthodox or less faithful than them. I do not think that these arguments can stand today in the Greek society of 2023.

And I also want to address those who very easily speak of patriotism for the defense of national interests and ask them to reflect: What government was this, which through very great difficulties succeeded and kept the goal fixed of the country and made Greece much stronger today than it was in 2019? We invested in our Armed Forces in such a way that, essentially, we have turned the balance of power in the Aegean within four years.”

Regarding the June 25 elections, he said that “the bet of the ballot box is so important, whether we will continue on this path of stability and progress or whether we will turn back.”

He then referred to the president of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Alexis Tsipras, saying: “The leader of the official opposition, in a speech he made yesterday, Mr. Tsipras said something with which I agree. He said we are voting for our lives. Yes, we are voting for our lives, we are voting for the lives of these young children who, when they graduate from a good public University, want to have a top job. For them to get quality knowledge in Universities, in which we will have libraries and not places of occupation and violence, as has been the case at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for decades.

We vote for our lives. And we vote for better jobs and better wages and the answer is that wage growth can only come through growth and through private investment. And only a New Democracy government can bring these private investments. We vote for our lives. We are also voting for quality public health and for a National Health System that will rise to the occasion. It will be reformed, as we have committed, and will be able to provide all citizens with quality health care, regardless of whether they are in large cities or in the Greek region.”

Mitsotakis Oreokastro

“At the ballot box on May 21, citizens rewarded consistency, industriousness, civilized political discourse and rejected division, toxicity, blackness. Unity won, division was defeated, truth won and lies were defeated”, underlined the president of ND, stressing: “This is an important conquest for our country, a conquest, however, friends, which still has not completed. It is not finished because nothing is finished. We have new elections on June 25 and we have new elections for one reason only: because Mr. Tsipras, as we predicted and said before the elections, had taken care to undermine the stability of the country by introducing an electoral system which with mathematical certainty will it was leading to anarchy.”

“If today, if in the polls of May 21, the electoral system that will apply in the ballot box of June 25 was in effect, the New Democracy would have strong self-reliance and the country would have a stable government from today. So we have to go now and finish what we started at the ballot box on May 21. And one more thing: we can set the bar of our expectations even higher. Let’s finish the job on June 25”, Mr. Mitsotakis noted.

The president of the ND was addressed by the mayor of Oreokastro Pantelis Tsakiris.

Mitsotakis Oreokastro

Before the speech, Mr. Mitsotakis walked in the center of Oreokastro and exchanged handshakes with shopkeepers and passers-by.

The next stops on his tour are Kilkis, Koufalia and at 19:30 he will speak at Eleftheria Square of Katerinis.