Victory for the Centre Left in Greece

Guest post by Christos Loutradis

In The Third Estate’s second collaboration with Press-Gr, one of the biggest news sites in Greece, Christos Loutradis reports on the results of the elections

For me, the most moving moments of an election campaign come with the results. The night of the counting, I was at the studios of the major Greek television channel, Alter. As a journalist covering Sunday’s marathon, I encountered all the strange characteristics of human nature, from hysteria to cupidity and arrogance. As former foreign minister, George Papandreou’s PASOK won a convincing victory with an 11% lead over the incumbent Kostas Karamanlis; it was not a good day to be a conservative commentator in the studio. On the day that New Democracy should have been celebrating its birth, the party found itself mourning its worst defeat in history, gaining only 33.5% of the vote. Meanwhile Nikitas Kaklamanis, Mayor of Athens, found himself venting his frustration at Alter employees in a shocking reaction to the result. PASOK’s newly appointed Minister of Education, Anna Diamantopoulou, on the other hand, was in high spirits, smiling and shaking the hands of the studio staff. I must admit, it was slightly uncomfortable to watch the journalists triumphantly congratulating the successful candidate only a day after deriding the party for its populist strategy.

In Greece, as in the UK, most of the attention goes to the two major centrist parties. The minor parties, for the most part, failed to take advantage of the depth of public disapproval PASOK, and New Democracy in particular, seem to have faced over the last months. Notably, the Greek Communist Party saw its vote fall to 7.4% (from 8.15% in 2007) and it lost two of its 22 seats in Parliament. The Coalition of the Radical Left (Sy.Riz.A), meanwhile, saw its share of the vote slip half a percentage point to 4.5%. Only La.O.S, the ultra-nationalists, managed to take advantage of the collapsing New Democracy to increase their vote from 3.8% to 5.54%.

The huge momentum that Papandreou seems to have found tonight does not, by any means, suggest that he has won the nation’s heart for the next four years. Papandreou, in his first statement, as Prime Minister has acknowledged the difficulties ahead. It is for this reason that the most frequent sentiments expressed during his speech were a ”call for unity” and the ”need for collective work”. Papandreou’s proposals for the control of the public finances and the other reforms needed to rescue Greece from the brink of bankruptcy demand an increasing and dynamic consensus from different parts of the political spectrum.

”We cannot lose a day without working for this nation,” Papandreou said. “I call all the Greeks to unite for our common goal. Our main and only interest is the wellbeing of our citizens”.

The call for unity was unanimous among the PASOK candidates. “We are fully aware that the days ahead us are very, very difficult, but we know how to fight,” Anna Diamantopoulou said.

In Rigilis street, where New Democracy keeps its headquarters are, the mood was very different. After years in the spotlight, Kostas Karamanlis had to come to terms with the loneliness of politics. Seated alone at his press conerence, the former prime minister tried to convince the public that he may have lost the elections, but he believed in his policies.

“Society didn’t agree with my proposals,” he said. “I still believe that my proposals are the only solutions for the financial crisis. However, I accept that today’s loss is 100% my fault. For this reason, I resign as president of New Democracy”.

Dora Bakoyanni, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and for many the next president of New Democracy, didn’t reply to the flurry of press inquiries as to whether she will run for her party’s top job, but she congratulated Karamanlis for his political courage.

The other two potential candidates, Dimitris Avramopoulos, former Minister of Health and Antonis Samaras, former Minister of Culture, supported ”Karamanlis’s legacy”. Everything remains at stake, however, until the party’s conference 48 days from now. This gives Papandreou six weeks of political freedom to implement his first measures and to send his first messages to Greek society. It’s a dangerous time for the incoming government as public finances face collapse and the market struggles for survival.

But there are signs of hope, especially in the sphere of international relations. It was Papandreou, as foreign minister, who turned his back on the vitriolic rhetoric Greek governments once aimed at their Turkish neighbours. Now, as prime minister, he is prepared to support Turkey’s entry into the European Union, raising hopes of ending one of the last great rivalries in Europe.

Whether Papandreou can meet the lofty expectations of Greece and its neighbours remains to be seen.