The River (Greece)

The River Το Ποτάμι
File:To Potami logo.svg
Leader	Stavros Theodorakis
Founded	26 February 2014 (2014-02-26)
Ideology	Social liberalism Centrism
Political position	Centre
European affiliation	None
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colours	Red, blue
Parliament	10 / 300
European Parliament	2 / 21
Regions	0 / 725
Website
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Politics of Greece Political parties Elections

Journalist Stavros Theodorakis, founder of To Potami

The River (Greek: Το Ποτάμι, translit. To Potami, IPA: [to poˈtami]) is a political party in Greece. The party was founded in February 2014 by Stavros Theodorakis. The party has 2 MEPs in the European Parliament and 11 seats in the Hellenic Parliament.

History

Party foundation

The party was launched on 11 March 2014 in Athens by TV presenter Stavros Theodorakis.

2014 European Parliament election

In April 2014 representatives of The River met the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and with representatives of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary groups.

In the 2014 European Parliament election held on 25 May 2014, the party received 6.6% of the national vote and the mandate to elect two MEPs, Giorgos Grammatikakis and Miltos Kyrkos.

On 27 May 2014 the two incoming MEPs announced their decision to sit with the S&D group in the European Parliament, whose intake included two MEPs from the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), citing the group’s commitment to “tackling the recession and unemployment in Greece and the South in general is among its political priorities”, while ruling out joining the Party of European Socialists.

2015 legislative elections

On 24 December 2014, the newly founded party Reformers for Democracy and Development of former Democratic Left (DIMAR) MP Spyros Lykoudis announced an alliance with The River.

On 5 January 2015, the Liberal Alliance party suspended talks about a joint electoral list with The River after the participation of Liberal Alliance's president Gregory Vallianatos had reportedly been ruled out by The River officials. Later, The River's leader Theodorakis and Theodoros Skylakakis, the leader of the liberal party Drasi, gave a joint press conference announcing a joint electoral list for the forthcoming legislative election.

In the January 2015 legislative election on 25 January 2015 The River received 6.1% of the electoral vote, finishing fourth place with a mandate for 17 seats in the Hellenic Parliament. In the aftermath of the election party leader Theodorakis stressed that Greece needed to avoid another snap election, and while ready to talk with SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras about forming a coalition government, he said they wouldn't support any coalition that includes anti-European forces. The River became part of the parliamentary opposition to the governing first Tsipras cabinet.

In the second election of the year, the September 2015 legislative election on 20 September 2015, the party received a reduced vote count of 4.1%, receiving 11 seats, remaining in opposition.

Ideology

Following its launch, The River was initially described by the media as pro-European and centrist, inspired by social democracy and liberalism and heavily reliant on Theodorakis' personal popularity to attract voters. The general description of the party's political position ranged from centrist to centre-left.

Election results

Hellenic Parliament

Election	Hellenic Parliament					Rank	Government	Leader
	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−
01/2015	373,868	6.1%	New	17 / 300	17	#4	Opposition	Stavros Theodorakis
09/2015	222,166	4.1%	2.0	11 / 300	6	#6	Opposition	Stavros Theodorakis

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−	Rank	Leader
2014	377,438	6.6%	New	2 / 21	2	#5	Stavros Theodorakis

External links

• (Greek)