Hopes of big three hinge on different goals
ND aiming for outright majority, SYRIZA wants to stay afloat, PASOK seeks to continue its rise
New Democracy, SYRIZA and PASOK closed the election race on Friday with different goals in view of Sunday’s ballot.
For conservative ND, the main goal is to secure a comfortable outright majority in the region of 158 seats. It believes that the votes of young people and voters who live in areas other than their constituencies are key to achieving this.
On the other hand, for SYRIZA, the crucial aim for the developments that will ensue on the expected difficult day after is the maintenance or not of a percentage above 20%. For PASOK, the goal in view of Sunday’s contest is to continue its upward course through the bolstering of the numbers of voters who supported it in the first elections in May.
Speaking to Skai on Friday, ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that people must vote as the result is not a foregone conclusion.
Regardless of the total number of people who will go to the polls, ND definitely wants the participation of its own voters to reach the same level as on May 21, when 2.4 million voted. To achieve this goal the some 200,000 people who live in areas other than their voting constituencies and voted for it must show up on Sunday.
Another crucial group that needs to be mobilized is young voters aged 17-23. On May 21 there were almost 580,000 of them, and of these 33%, or almost 190,000, voted for ND.
Another concern for ND is too many parties finally entering Parliament, which, according to the polls, could even reach nine. This would increase the threshold for an outright majority and under certain circumstances may call into question the crucial goal of 158 seats or more.
For SYRIZA, there is a lot at stake on Sunday, related to its future and the course that it will chart over the next four years. The outcome is directly linked to the decibels of criticism based on its parliamentary strength and its contest with PASOK for hegemony in the center-left.
It will not be considered a catastrophe if the percentage is just below 20%. But it will not be encouraging. The assessment also depends on the results of ND and PASOK.
As for PASOK, its leader Nikos Androulakis and party officials have sought in the past few days to put out the message that it has the chance to return dynamically to the forefront as a central political player and to function as a substantial opposition to ND.
