Greece goes to the polls on Sunday, promise of change comes to light

In pre-election polls due to take place on May 21 in Greece, the ruling New Democracy party comes in first, the main opposition SYRIZA in second and the opposition alliance PASOK-KINAL in third.

The fact that parties rank the same in the polls as previous general election results reduces the excitement of the election. Therefore, interest in the general election is forecast to remain low. Turnout in the 2019 general election, which transferred power from SYRIZA to New Democracy, was 57.7 percent.

SYRIZA WANTS A SECOND CHANCE

During the economic crisis in Greece since 2009, SYRIZA, which received public support with anti-memorandum policies and had to sign a memorandum agreement with the European Union (EU) and IMF when it came to power, said that the voters “slide from the left to the center” and follow policies similar to those of other major parties that are the subject of criticism.

The party wants a second chance from voters to implement its program that it was unable to implement while in power during the crisis. Sotiris Aleksiu, secretary of the SYRIZA Youth Branch, stated that they had to sign the memorandum, noting that this time SYRIZA wants to implement a pro-popular program that will compensate for the cuts in wages and income inequalities caused by the memorandum.

The center-left PASOK, one of the parties that has been in the seat of power for decades in the country, decided to join the elections as a PASOK-KINAL alliance by merging with another left-wing party.
PASOK Political Council adviser Yannis Papayorgopoulos said: “PASOK was at the forefront in all the difficult moments of the country, including during the period of the memorandum. He sacrificed the party and the people for the good of the country, to keep the country in Europe, in the eurozone”.

VARUFAKIS PROMISE

The Mera25 party, which was founded by Yanis Varoufakis, who was Finance Minister alongside then Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the first term of the SYRIZA government, but left the party after SYRIZA signed the memorandum, and which is affiliated with Democracy for The Europe Movement in Europe (DiEM25), at the helm of the party for 40 years, Jochen Schult, a member of German origin based in Greece, said his party promised radical change.

Stating that PASOK and New Democracy follow a policy that does not take into account the needs of the people in Greece, Schult said: “There is a program in Greece that is stifling the economy. After 2008, no government has made decisions for the good of the people. We want to change that,” she said.

TWO BIG PARTIES ARE THE SAME ACCORDING TO THE COMMUNISTS

Although seen as one of the parties unlikely to come to power, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), one of the most entrenched parties in Greece, ranks 4th in the polls.

Efi Zafitiou, who started working for the KKE from the youth branch, spoke as follows about the perception that the electoral race is between New Democracy and SYRIZA: “There is a great polarization between New Democracy and SYRIZA in the pre-election atmosphere. There was such a distinction in the past, but now it is much more intense. As a result, we mainly see the opposition between these two parties on television and radio. Actually, they are not opposites because their basic principles and strategies are the same. The difference is very small.”

Polls in Greece point to a coalition government, but if a coalition cannot be formed after the election results, people are forecast to turn to the polls again. (AA)