Ruling party has issues in the north

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was in Edessa, a city in the region of Central Macedonia, Tuesday, the first of what promises to be many visits in northern Greece ahead of next year’s election.

There’s a reason for this: All opinion polls, published or not, show the ruling center-right New Democracy is bleeding support to its right.

Greek Solution, the hard-right, nationalist and populist party, whose base is in the north, enjoys robust support, and it is said that it is close to polling double-digit figures in some of Macedonia’s regional units. It, and not the leftist, main opposition SYRIZA, seems to be drawing the protest vote in the north.

As a new party, founded in 2016, Greek Solution won 3.70% of the vote in the last election, in July 2019, electing 10 MPs in the 300-member Parliament, partly taking advantage of the collapse of the more threatening and far-right Golden Dawn. With the exception of Kozani, Greek Solution won over 5% of the vote in the regional units of Western and Central Macedonia, with its best result, 7.27%, in Florina.

Greek Solution benefits from some local trends in northern Greece: Nationalism is more prevalent and more virulent; the number of vaccination deniers was higher; and pro-Russian attitudes are friendlier.

The ruling party has to make an extra effort to maintain its primacy in what is considered its bastion; too many votes drifting to its right could imperil its chances of winning an outright parliamentary majority in the second of two anticipated elections late next spring, even as opinion polls, so far, show it steadily ahead of SYRIZA.

Weather can also be the ruling party’s foe: As all of Europe braces for a difficult winter because of the energy crisis, northern Greece will feel the effects of the winter earlier, and more intensely, than the rest of the country. Already temperatures are dropping below 10 degrees Celsius in some parts of the region.

Measures to maintain energy sufficiency, keep households and businesses from footing huge electricity bills, and supporting mountain communities take an even greater importance in the north.