A war of words between the coalition government parties and main opposition SYRIZA has broken out, with coalition partners Nea Dimokratia and PASOK to launch fierce attacks against the left-wing party that threatens to win the EU elections in upcoming Sunday. The “flirt” with Golden Dawn voters before the second round of municipality and regional elections threatens to turn the neo-nazi party into the regulator of the political debate.
In the middle of political discord between the coalition government partners and SYRIZA are the voters of Golden Dawn who gave GD candidate for Athens Municipality 16% and regional elections candidate 11.11% in the first round of municipality and regional elections last Sunday.
For who will they cast their vote next Sunday? For conservative parties like Nea Dimokratia or for left-wing SYRIZA and so to confirm that they voted for GD in terms of a “protest” and “anti-systemic vote”?
In the second round of elections, Nea Dimokratia supports PASOK candidates for Athens Municipality (Kaminis) and Attica region (Sgouros). But Samaras’ party fears of an anti-government party.
In many municipalities it’s the ideological party color of the candidate that counts more than his/her skills to run a city council and do the best for the local community. An expected reaction in Greece’s of loan agreements, over taxation, high unemployment and impoverishment.
Beginning of the week SYRIZA Athens candidate Gabriel Sakellaridis called on those who voted Golden Dawn candidates to “reconsider their position”.
Alexis Tsipras said in an interview that “GD-voters were not nazis” but “misguided voters”.
At the same time, a candidate with Golden Dawn Kasidiaris sent a letter to Sakellaridis, claiming that “fascism and communism were two ideological systems that had a lot in common” and he tried to persuade Sakelladidis “to unite forces in the second round of elections.” Odd enough, newspapers found out that GD-candidate Christos Goudis had close relations with Nea Dimokratia and the former party of Antonis Samaras POLAN.
Nea Dimokratia and PASOK were quick to blame SYRIZA for seeking the votes of GD supporters, while Samaras’ party relaunched it’s dangerous anti-SYRIZA tactic claiming “the extreme-right and the left-wing were the two views of the same coin.” And this, despite the fact that government general secretary and ND-member Panagiotis Baltakos was exposed when caught on video camera in friendly chat with Golden Dawn. And despite, the fact that some ND officials have been playing with the idea of re-gaining the GD-voters, whom they consider as former ND-voters lost because of the harsh austerity program. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had personally said last September “that Golden Dawn voters were not neo-nazis.”
Ιn Patras, a GD-candidate offered to support a ND-candidate, even if he later dismissed the idea.
I don’t know if GD-candidates have some special agenda in mind when they offer “cooperation” with SYRIZA. something in the direction of “provocation”.
But ND’s campaign to put together Golden Dawn with SYRIZA can backfire, especially if there is no indepth analysis about the GD-voters’ motives.
PS I wonder, how Nea Dimokratis and PASOK will react, should the GD voters cast votes for them next Sunday…
