The Prime Minister clearly read the election results. And Kiriakis Mitsotakis may have said in his interview that citizens “just sent a message”but it is becoming increasingly clear that he understood that there was a real rejection of power in this election.
It was also seen in reformation which has been announced and to a large extent shows exactly how the Prime Minister interpreted the results of the European elections, what worries him and what he will focus on.
And the Prime Minister’s interpretation is that while the discontent appears to be going in different directions and options, he is most concerned about the one that is directed to the right.
In other words: the prime minister seems to share the assessment that he is genuine only Kyriakos Velopoulos was the winner while the “center-left” opposition could not achieve a truly positive result, despite the real deterioration of the government’s condition.
Because if one were to see the permutation, one would find that it is primarily trying to stop leakage to the right, not to the left.
In other words, he is not afraid that he will be threatened by the wider space represented by SYRIZA, PASOK and the New Left, but mainly by the far right.
Therefore, he tries to talk mainly with this audience, emphasizing the tone of “hard” and “popular” right.
Besides that it also shows the problem that exists today with the opposition that is on the left of New Democracy.
In fact, whether we are talking about Stefanos Kaselakis’ SYRIZA, Nikos Androulakis’s PASOK, Alexis Haritsis’ New Left or even Yanis Varoufakis’s MeRA25, the problem is the same: they make a damning speech identifying the main problems facing the country and they knock out them from the rut, hoping that in this way they will increase the corruption of the government and the votes of dissatisfied citizens will begin to fall in their favor at the ballot boxes.
This is the well-known theory of “ripe fruits”, according to which the opposition does not need to do much, it just needs to wait until dissatisfaction with the policy of the government accumulates, so that the power, like a “ripe fruit”, falls into its hands.
Except logic and perception just don’t work. And this has been proven many times.
Alexis Tsipras followed the ripe fruit tactics after 2019 and measured the results in the 2023 elections.
Similarly, Nikos Androulakis saw winning second place as “ripe fruit” given the crisis in SYRIZA, and he now sees himself in doubt in his own party because he failed to get past SYRIZA.
The New Left invested in the “ripe fruits” of voting for “real SYRIZA” and the results were far from good.
For the simple reason that citizens do not think so.
Because investing in ripe fruit tactics is based, first of all, on the idea that citizens basically do not think, do not have the ability to understand what the dispute is about or what they are “waging”.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Citizens think and weigh much more data. They are influenced by their ideology, which is never as harsh as the parties think, but also by their daily lives. They know their needs well, and even better, what is wrong with the country. And accordingly, they assess whether they want to delegate management, criticize or really “send a message” with their voice. Also, sometimes you really want to send those opposition voices who “speak well” to the parliament. And, apparently, many people want to show their affiliation and loyalty to ideals by voting.
And basically, let’s not laugh, they want to hand over the reigns to someone who will make things better or at least not worse.
That’s why, even if they don’t find such an offer, sometimes they prefer to hold back rather than choose the one that “sends the best message.”
This means that anyone who wants to reconstruct the competing fear of government and ND today cannot just sit back and claim that they are talking about “bigger” government.
He needs to think about two things:
First, what does the government’s next proposal actually mean. And the government’s proposal is not just the opposite of the government or a policy promise that is clearly impossible to deliver.
Second, to show that there is a body that can govern.
And at the moment, citizens do not see either the program or the agency.
Because – precisely because the citizens are not stupid – they understand that today’s SYRIZA simply cannot govern. Today, even PASOK does not consider itself a government force. You do not see his parliamentary group and imagine it as an office. This is even more true for small batches.
What would it take? Whoever believes that he can lead the left progressive faction today, whether we are talking about Kaseliakis, or Androulakis, or Haritis, or Tsipras, or anyone else, should come out and make a clear offer to restore the entire seat, and don’t just say “come to my shop”.
Issue a declaration that is a commitment to real governing axes that are studied and worked out and that highlights real governance, and on that basis call for a joint process, a “constituent conference” or whatever.
To talk to people from different forces that are involved in this process and get them not just to sign, but to organize it.
To make the process as open and transparent as possible.
To be rigorous and serious in matters of substance and, above all, in proposing a real program of alternative governance, open and generous to the possibility of each individual stream feeling that it “got what it deserved”, without at the same time creating a galaxy ” composite”.
First of all: not only to talk to society, but also to listen to it. To listen to her sufferings and needs.
In politics, nothing falls like “ripe fruit.” Alternative formation requires work: plowing, sowing, fertilizing, care and patience.
Otherwise, at the next election, we will have a duel between Mitsotakis and Velopoulos, and then we will see who is the “lesser evil”…