Greece's ruling New Democracy party has appointed Porfylenia Kanellopoulou, Pola Damianou, Odysseas Nasibian, and Christos Lagkadianos as deputy press spokespersons in Athens.
The appointments were decided by Prime Minister and New Democracy President Kyriakos Mitsotakis following several weeks of internal deliberations. Greek news website protothema.gr first revealed the names early on Tuesday morning before the conservative party released its official announcement outlining the appointments.
Party officials described the four appointees as fresh faces who hold established party credentials but remain widely unknown to the general public. Over the coming period, the group will take on a significant share of New Democracy's media representation across Greek television networks, radio stations, and digital outlets.
Although unfamiliar to national television audiences, all four appointees are well known to insiders within the governing party's apparatus. Kanellopoulou has enjoyed a steady ascent through the party ranks, Damianou has campaigned as a parliamentary candidate, Lagkadianos has served within the youth leadership, and Nasibian has developed a strong profile in local government.
Communication Strategy and Sdoukou Role
The new spokespersons will gradually increase their public appearances on political broadcast panels across Greece. As part of the restructuring, New Democracy Press Spokesperson Alexandra Sdoukou has received expanded responsibilities to coordinate the ruling party's wider communications operation.
Sdoukou will carry out her coordinating role in close and direct contact with the Maximos Mansion, the historic government building in central Athens that serves as the official seat and office of the Greek prime minister. In an official statement, New Democracy said that Sdoukou will lead the team of deputy spokespersons with the objective of strengthening the party's public presence and projecting its policy positions and legislative initiatives more effectively.
The media appointments coincide with broader administrative adjustments being directed by New Democracy Secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis, who is preparing further changes across the party's various secretariats. Prime Minister Mitsotakis will visit party headquarters next Monday to chair a formal meeting of the New Democracy Executive Secretariat, the senior steering body responsible for coordinating party strategy and operations between full congresses.
Legal and Policy Career of Porfylenia Kanellopoulou
Porfylenia Kanellopoulou is an Athens-based lawyer originally from Kyparissia, a coastal town in the Messinia regional unit of the southwestern Peloponnese. She graduated from the Law School of Democritus University of Thrace in northern Greece before completing two advanced postgraduate degrees. She earned a master's degree in Law and Economics from the University of Piraeus and a master's degree in Public Law and Public Policy from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Kanellopoulou works as an active courtroom attorney focusing primarily on civil and corporate law. She launched her political career as a student organizer with DAP-NDFK Komotini, the university wing of New Democracy, before rising to national party prominence as Director of the Press and Information Office and chief spokesperson for ONNED, the party's youth wing founded in 1974.
Her standing within the party hierarchy has risen steadily in recent years. She was elected to New Democracy's governing Political Committee, and in the May 2023 national parliamentary elections she stood as a candidate on the nationwide State list, a reserved ballot under Greek electoral law where candidates are selected directly by the party leadership rather than elected through local geographic constituencies.
Local Government Work of Odysseas Nasibian
Odysseas Nasibian is a practicing lawyer and municipal councillor in Nea Smyrni, a major residential municipality located in the southern urban area of Athens. Born in Nea Smyrni in 1998, he completed his legal studies at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has operated his own independent law office in the capital since 2022.
Nasibian entered elected public service in 2019 when he won a seat on the Nea Smyrni Municipal Council. During his municipal service, he took charge of local authority portfolios covering new technologies, innovation, youth policy, and public participation. Between 2022 and 2023, he took on senior executive responsibilities in municipal government, serving as Deputy Mayor for Sanitation and Cleansing as well as general Deputy Mayor.
His municipal work extended internationally when he represented the Municipality of Nea Smyrni at the Chisinau Urban Forum, an international municipal conference organized under UNESCO's Global Network of Learning Cities. Nasibian has also taken part in several European youth actions and Erasmus+ academic exchange programmes, while maintaining an active background in ONNED with an emphasis on grassroots civic engagement.
Campaign Strategy Background of Christos Lagkadianos
Christos Lagkadianos was born and raised in the Aegean port city of Piraeus. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Crete and subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration with a specialized concentration in tourism management at the University of Piraeus.
Lagkadianos works professionally in political communication, specializing in the strategic design and practical execution of political campaigns. He is also the co-founder and vice president of Debate House, an independent non-profit organisation that promotes structured public discourse through competitive debate tournaments, workshops, and educational programs.
His political involvement began during his university studies on Crete, where he served as secretary of the local DAP-NDFK student organization in Rethymno. He was later elected to the Central Committee of ONNED and currently serves as the official ONNED representative on New Democracy's national Political Committee.
Legal and Political Career of Pola Damianou
Pola Damianou is an active courtroom lawyer, political scientist, and accredited dispute mediator originally from Drama, a regional capital in northeastern Greece. She graduated from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed her law degree at European University Cyprus, before pursuing postgraduate studies in economic law at City, University of London.
Damianou comes from an established political family within Greek conservatism. Her father, Theodoros Damianou, previously represented the Drama constituency as a New Democracy member of the Hellenic Parliament and served as a government minister in an earlier administration.
She began her political career in the student movement with DAP-NDFK and later won election to both the Central Committee of ONNED and the Political Committee of New Democracy. In 2019, she was elected as a community councillor in the First Municipal District of the City of Athens, where she was appointed president of the Koukaki Friendship Club, a municipal day centre supporting elderly local residents. During the 2023 national elections, she ran as a parliamentary candidate for New Democracy in the central Athens A electoral district.
