The right and faintheartedness
There are two definite conclusions from Sunday’s European elections. Ruling New Democracy (ND) lost big and nationalist, pro-Russian Greek Solution won big. The percentages secured by all parties seem to imply a further shift of the ideological-political axis to the right. But before we hear any wisecracks about an “imported” far-right trend, perhaps we should look at the results in a different light.
It is more likely that we are seeing a shift of the electorate toward surrealism, and this is because the Greek far-right has no relation to the European far-right; the leader of Greek Solution, the biggest far-right party, Kyriakos Velopoulos, has advertised dubious products such as handwritten letters from Jesus in the past.
There were enough right-wing voters who were angry with the government and decided to teach it a lesson, while playing it safe. Of course, these voters would never choose a left-wing party to express their discontent
Whatever the reality, many officials in New Democracy will be tempted to say that “the party needs to get the message.” Some didn’t even wait for the final results. They are doing it for two reasons: either to stick it to their leader, who appointed so many “liberals,” “social democrats,” and other bad things to the party (when there are indeed a limited number of posts), or because they really believe what 19th century French politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin reportedly said, “I must follow them, for I am their leader,” or, as we say in Greece, “They see which way the wind blows.”
The question is, what message is New Democracy supposed to get from a party leader who, a few days ago, was shouting that “those who make obscene profits should go to prison,” while he has gained “obscenely” in the past by selling supposed letters of Jesus? Should ND promise, as Velopoulos did earlier this year, to carry out exploration for hydrocarbons so that it can raise pensions to 4,000 euros? New Democracy’s problem, therefore, is that there is no serious far-right party to listen to. Things are simple: There were enough right-wing voters who were angry with the government and decided to teach it a lesson, while playing it safe. Of course, these voters would never choose a left-wing party to express their discontent. However, they are not lost for ND. In the recent past the far-right (including its criminal version) raised its head electorally but in the end, right-wing voters returned to their natural political space.
What will be judged in the future is whether the right is fainthearted, as late premier and ND leader Konstantinos Mitsotakis is said to have stated, and if ND will drag its feet in the implementation of its agenda due to the normal dissatisfaction expressed in the election (which, although a win, the party itself turned into a defeat by setting the threshold for success at 33% and putting the prime minister in charge of the election campaign).
After all, as the great Swedish statistician Hans Rosling said, leadership is the ability to turn the smallest crisis into the best possible result. In these elections we saw the “small crisis” in the right. Now we have to see how it will evolve.
