Maria Gratsia, a lawyer and close associate of Maria Karystianou, denied that an organized wave of departures is underway inside the party Hope for Democracy, in an interview on Open TV.
Gratsia said there was no wave, only limited, individual departures, and that if people wanted to call it a wave she had no objection, but that the numbers never lie. She said the number of people leaving was small, especially compared with the number registering as members, calling the gap enormous.
She also criticized the media, saying no outlet had ever bothered to ask the party about the pace of new registrations or the public response, which she said was very significant and underpinned the movement's stability and that of its leader.
Blaming Avgerinos for the internal rift
Gratsia traced the start of the crisis to a public intervention by Thanasis Avgerinos, in which he did not rule out the possibility of post-election cooperation with other parties. She said the first serious friction began at that point, since Karystianou's official and non-negotiable position from the outset was a complete refusal to cooperate with any party of the existing political system.
She also criticized references to unnamed advisors she called suspicious, saying no individuals were ever named and no specific evidence was ever presented to support the claims. She said criticism was welcome and even necessary, but that it should be based on facts rather than vague, unsubstantiated accusations.
Party statement targets media coverage
On the same day, Hope for Democracy issued a statement attacking media outlets, accusing them of highlighting the departures of party members. The statement said that while stormy winds were blowing through the country's political scene, most media outlets were oddly preoccupied with a single member from Mesolongi who had left the movement two days earlier.
