Failed politicians on the party ticket
The truth is that SYRIZA does not have the moral high ground to call for the removal of Kostas A. Karamanlis (III), who resigned as transport minister in the conservative administration following the deadly train collision, from the New Democracy party ticket. Not because the main leftist opposition does not have a say on the issue. Nor because it has allowed ex-minister Nikos Pappas to run in the next election despite his being recently convicted to a suspended two-year sentence over his role in the 2016 television licenses tender – in what was a deliberate attempt to rig the democratic system.
Karamanlis had “a stroke of bad luck on his shift,” to recall a phrase immortalized by former regional governor Rena Dourou to describe the incompetence of state services during the deadly wildfires in eastern Attica in 2018. The devastating wildfires in Mati and the deadly flash floods in Mandra, also in eastern Attica, a year earlier did not stop Dourou from standing as a candidate in the 2019 regional elections.
Nikos Toskas also ran in the 2019 parliamentary elections. He had earlier resigned (if reluctantly) from the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection after failing to protect the residents at Mati. Dourou and Toskas both lost their re-election bid.
The problem with Karamanlis (III) is not that he will almost certainly be elected to Parliament, despite the 57 train passengers that were killed “on his shift.” The problem, rather, is that he will almost certainly be appointed minister – although he will hopefully be given a less sensitive portfolio.
The scions of political families are rarely left out of the cabinet; and we all know what the outcome was when another Kostas Karamanlis (II) became prime minister without any prior management experience. Konstantinos Mitsotakis, the late conservative premier, had expressed his regret that he had not appointed Karamanlis (II) deputy minister.
Perhaps the biggest problem is our failure to discuss the fact that under Greek political rules, a ministerial office and legislative office are not incompatible. We are having endless discussions about whether Karamanlis (III) and Pappas should stand as a candidates in the next election, but we fail to discuss the pros and cons of a system which allows ministers to be members of the legislature. We even fail to consider how the government’s work is negatively affected by the fact that prime ministers feel they cannot leave top vote-getting deputies out of their cabinet (although we all know the source of their political dowry).
Political reform is no longer on the table. The issue has not been raised by the prime minister who vows to “do away with the old anachronistic state”; nor has it been raised by the opposition chief who has suddenly found respect for the institutions that he previously sought to control, calling them “the joints of power.” Let’s hope that it will be broached by the supposedly repentant Pavlos Polakis.
