A pre-election campaign from the past
A wiretapping scandal and innuendos about an ongoing blackmail campaign. Cash handouts and political favors. A prolonged electoral campaign without a clear election date. MP candidates working with the Church of Greece to boost their visibility. Politicians on the campaign trail hugging babies and pressing the flesh. Politicians billing themselves as the “law and order” candidate. Efforts to deflect public attention away from issues that undermine the ruling party’s chances of re-election. Populism and cheap opposition tactics.
Allegations of attempted vote-rigging in the upcoming election. Division and polarization. Meaningless skirmishing in Parliament. Revisiting historical traumas such as the military dictatorship or the civil war. Displays of macho bravado as evidence of a “manly” leadership style. Exploitation of national issues to energize the party base. Dividing the nation into “patriots” and “traitors.”
This is the prevailing mood on the country’s political stage, and it emits a strong smell of mold. It’s as if political debate has stalled and political confrontation has frozen in time. It’s the same slogans, the same posturing, even the same themes since the start of the so-called Metapolitefsi (the post-1974 period). The latest campaign could have taken place half a century ago.
Campaigning could involve some real dialogue including real citizens – rather than claques – in the style of the town hall meetings in the United States
Perhaps the only fundamental difference is that the years of the country’s leftist-led administration galvanized the two camps. Even some former left-wing voters, who saw Greece on the brink of a euro exit, now seem willing to tolerate every ill of the New Democracy administration for the sake of avoiding a repeat of the Grexit scenario, including the undermining of the rule of law, the strengthening of patron-client ties, nepotism, the degeneration of an administration purportedly built around the idea of excellence into a government that thrives on patronage, and the legitimization of police brutality.
At the same time, the revival of every trademark right-wing populist element by the incumbent conservative administration is prompting the opposition to draw over-the-top comparisons with the establishments in Hungary and Poland.
Campaigning could be held along very different lines: with serious conversation on issues that concern citizens, such as inflation, the deterioration of public health, unaffordable housing, the demand for quality public education, labor market needs, low wages, and the social security crisis.
Above all, it could involve some real dialogue including real citizens – rather than claques – in the style of the town hall meetings in the United States, where local and national politicians get a chance to meet with their constituents.
