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Kathimerini
July 21,
2003
Summary: Discussion of the
political factors involved in a likely change in the Greek electoral
system.
Kathimerini, Greece
Commentaries
With what political compass...
By Stamos Zoulas
July 21, 2003 The announced change to the electoral system
reflects the usual arguments cited by the government (such as
allowing more proportional representation, enhancing the role of
deputy, and curbing political bipolarity), while more substantial
arguments come into play as well. New Democracy, for example, is
currently opposing the proposed change as an act of political
dishonesty, proof of an establishment mentality, and an attempt to
distract the public from pressing problems. Both ND and the Greek
Communist Party (KKE) refuse to engage in dialogue, which means that
the new law will probably be voted in solely by the governing PASOK
party. In this way it will be implemented only after the politically
sensitive presidential election of February 2005. In other words,
PASOK’Äôs scenario of a parenthetical ND government during the brief
grace period of May 2004-February 2005 applies. There is, however,
a crucial segment of voters who do not think along partisan lines,
and who are mainly concerned about how Greece might be governed if
the electoral law is implemented. All political leaders, and by
extension their parties, are judged primarily by the consistency of
their words and deeds, and by the effectiveness of their policies.
The late Andreas Papandreou, for example, evinced exceptional
inconsistency in his proclamations and political actions. His
successor, Simitis, made timely and practical attempts to earn the
people’Äôs trust on the basis of deeds. Unfortunately for him, at the
end of his political cycle he is resorting to empty words. Simitis
knows better than any other Greek citizen that whatever good he has
done the country (and not of course for his party) is due to
political decisions which ignored or ran counter to the ideological
prejudices and political rigidity of the old-style PASOK. He was
often criticized within his own party for abandoning PASOK’Äôs social
concerns, principles and values. This raises the question of how
Greece is to be governed, if in a year or so a coalition government
of PASOK with Dimitris Tsovolas’Äôs DIKKI party, the Left Coalition or
any other party emerges from the election as a genuine expression of
the principles and values of PASOK as it was under Papandreou.
Simitis and those who engineered the electoral law know the answer.
That is why they have avoided making any approach to the parties of
the Left on the basis of converging platforms. Such an endeavor
would not only show a lack of sincere desire for, and likelihood of,
cooperation among parties, but that the experiment of sharing power
among partners who disagree, distrust and clash with each other is
extremely dangerous for Greece. |
