Dritsas was a Piraeus mayoral candidate in the 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2014 elections, heading the political alliance called "Port of Anguish". From 2002 to 2007 he served at the Municipal Council of Piraeus.[6]
On 8 January 2021, Dimitris Koufodinas, a jailed former member of the 17 Novemberterrorist organization, began a hunger strike demanding to be transferred from the "high-security prison" in Domokos, in central Greece, back to the Korydallos prison in Athens. In March 2021, Dritsas, speaking to a Piraeus local radio station, expressed his support for Koufodinas' hunger strike, stating the following:
What the (New Democracy) government is doing [by refusing Koufodinas' demand] will revive the discourse on the armed [struggle] and so-called terrorism, even though I believe no one was ever terrorized by the actions of those organizations. No one has been terrorized by the 17 November [organization]. I have said this many times.[10]
The New Democracy governing party condemned Dritsas' statement as "vulgar" and "insulting to the memory of the organization's victims"[11] The center-leftMovement for Change (KINAL) party denounced in parliament the comments made by Dritsas as "unacceptable, ahistorical and provocative," stating that "terrorism is the enemy of democracy."[12] Dritsas, the next day, issued a "clarifying" statement, arguing that his original comments were in reference to "the Greek democracy, the citizens of democracy, and the values of a just state, which the terrorists never respected."[12] Syriza issued a statement characterizing Dritsas' comments as "unfortunate," adding that "what he said does not express either him or Syriza." The statement concluded that "besides, [Dritsas] clarified [his comments] immediately with his additional statement in no uncertain terms."[11]
