tagged: early elections, economic crisis, George Papandreou, Greece, greece early elections, local elections administration, scenarios

Greece: Early Elections if Papandreou fails in Local Polls?

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics

I heard about the early elections scenarios two days ago. By a friend of a mine, a journalist, who is close to governing party PASOK. Yesterday, another friend, from main opposiotion center-right Nea Dimokratia spoke about them. I thought they were just the usual Greek media rumors aiming to stir up ‘things’ just two weeks before the upcoming local elections. I want to remind blog-visitors that early elections scenarios had started to circulate only six weeks after the parliamentary elections last year.

But today I think the issue is more serious. Then Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou’s aides speak about them!

According to Kathimerini newspaper close associates of Prime Minister recommend early parliament elections, if the percentage of  governing party PASOK is marginally higher than of the Nea Dimokratia in the upcoming local elections.

At the elections of Nevember 7, 2010, citizens will be asked to cast their votes for administrative districts heads, city mayors and city councils.  Let’s that  people vote for mayors & councils if their streets are clean,  garbage is collected on time, trees are planted and local buses make people’s moving around easier. But the vote for the district rulers is a pure political vote.  Here people will vote not only according to their political ideology but also according to whether they agree on the Greece-IMF Bailout-agreement.

Last week PM Papandreou said  that the stakes of the November 7 local administration elections are political as the citizens, with their vote, will respond to the quandary of whether they want the country to move forward — through continuation of the difficult task of saving the economy and deep-rooted reform — or backwards. (source:Athens News Agency ) 

PASOK’s candidate for greater Athens district, Dimitris Sgouros, will not likely the winner , according to the polls. Neither seem the chances prosperous for PASOK’s  mayor candidate for Athens municipality Giorgos Kominis.

So it looks to me like a prime-ministerial blackmailing to the voters. They will face the crucial dilemma: either you vote for PASOK and support my austerity policy OR I’ll go for early elections by next spring. With the majority of  civil servants, employees and pensioners disappointed about income cuts, tax raises and deep recession, it would be most likely that Papandreou could lose any early elections. Because people are angry now.

Tomorrow evening, Monday, Giorgos Papandreou will address the Greek citizens via television in form of Questions & Answers with journalists. He is expected to set the TV audience in front of the political and economic dilemma. How will people react? We will know on November 7.

PM’s associates estimate that voters will disapprove the policy of harsh measures of the IMF-Memorandum and shift their choice for candidates solely on the basis of the position they have  declared on the subject: Memorandum Pro or Contra.

Of course, early elections would pose new financial expenses for the state and the tax payers. Apart from this, the major question is: Who will govern Greece? Nea Dimokratia together with the small opposition parties? But even with a new government Greeks cannot escape the Memorandum. So Papandreou should stay and  challenge the consequences to the end.