The break is over, everyone back to work
A few days remain until the end of the most tiring pre-election period in recent decades, where the main role in the political debate was not played by the programs of the parties but by some statements made by members of New Democracy and SYRIZA. This is characteristic of the mutation that political dialogue has undergone in Greece under the influence of social media on the daily political agenda.
Suddenly, a statement by Spyros Pnevmatikos, a prominent doctor and lawmaker with the conservatives, was interpreted by the conspiracy theorists of the keyboard as an intention of a new government under Kyriakos Mitsotakis to let end-of-life phase cancer patients die without treatment and drugs – all for financial reasons. In fact, this chilling, obviously fake, interpretation was even adopted by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras in his speeches and used as a bogeyman for those who are thinking of voting for ND.
It was SYRIZA’s “answer” to ND’s exploitation of former labor minister Giorgos Katrougalos’ misguided statement about the need to increase insurance contributions for the self-employed, and indicative of the despair that prevails in the party after the massive electoral defeat in the May election. It was a statement that served as the last straw for some undecided, self-employed voters who decided to abandon SYRIZA.
But the worst thing is that both main parties punched below the belt on important issues concerning the country and which should not have been the basis of partisan confrontation in the runup to the elections.
Mitsotakis raised political tensions over SYRIZA’s Muslim candidates in the region of Rodopi, placing the influence exercised by the Turkish consulate on the minority at the center of the pre-election battle. He even used aggressive rhetoric, which for some is incomprehensible and is not consistent with Greece’s careful handling of the sensitive issues pertaining to the wider region of Thrace. Tsipras also used extreme rhetoric about the deadly shipwreck off the southwestern coast of Greece. He blamed the Hellenic Coast Guard and the Mitsotakis government for the immigration policy that has been followed in recent years, when it is known that Greece’s stance is formed by following the general policy of the European Union toward immigrants. If Athens does not coordinate with the EU, there is a risk (as was the case in 2015 under SYRIZA) that migrants will flood Greek territory.
Fortunately, the pre-election fireworks are ending. As of Monday, the new government will have to roll up its sleeves.
