ATHENS — Alexis Tsipras returned to politics on May 26, 2026, after a three-year hiatus, launching a new left-wing political party called the Greek Left Alliance in Athens. He held an outdoor event beneath the Acropolis to mark the party’s formation, attended by cheering supporters.

"We cannot stand by and watch society suffocate," Tsipras said at the launch. He argued that the center-right government's pro-business agenda has worsened income inequality and criticized Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s close ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tsipras also pledged to focus on affordable housing, stronger labor protections, and addressing widening economic inequality.

"We don’t want to get used to a world of war and injustice," Tsipras added. His new party aims to draw support and potentially lawmakers from existing opposition parties in an effort to challenge Mitsotakis’s bid for a third term. Greece’s opposition currently comprises seven parliamentary parties, reflecting a fragmented political landscape.

Tsipras, 51, first rose to power in 2015 on promises to end the harsh austerity measures imposed by Greece’s European creditors and the International Monetary Fund. During that debt crisis, global markets were rattled as Greece nearly exited the euro currency bloc before ultimately accepting new loans and additional austerity measures.

Critics accuse Tsipras of betraying voters by campaigning against austerity only to later sign a stringent bailout agreement. Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis dismissed Tsipras’s return, saying, "No matter how hard Mr. Tsipras tries — investing in communication that has no substance — to bury his record deep in the ground, the truth will follow him forever."

Despite a cost-of-living crunch and a corruption scandal affecting his administration, Mitsotakis continues to lead comfortably in opinion polls, aided by steady economic growth and falling unemployment.