[citation needed] He went on to study law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
[citation needed] Tsovolas later began his career in politics as a member of PASOK.
[1] As the Koskotas scandal was unraveling, Andreas Papandreou's blatant patronage reached the point of giving in one of his rallies a public command to Tsovolas, who was Minister of Finance, to "give it all [to them]" (Greek: Τσοβόλα δώσ'τα όλα) and "Tsovolas, empty the coffers [of the state]," and the crowd chanted these back.
Papandreou later on said that he was only joking, but this moment characterized the era and made Tsovala's name infamous.
In October 1995 he left PASOK and on 20 December that year he founded the Democratic Social Movement.