PASOK leader ready to defend position amid party turmoil
PASOK president Nikos Androulakis said on Monday that he is ready to hold a party leadership race after coming under fire for the socialist party’s mediocre performance in the European elections.
“I am ready to be evaluated at any moment by the progressive party’s base,” Androulakis said in an interview with state broadcaster ERT, adding that “if people want something different, they will choose it.”
The PASOK leader also expressed disappointment at how quickly his leadership was challenged from within his own party.
“I have tried during the years I have led the party, to set aside the attitudes that have harmed us, extending a hand in all directions. It saddens me that some did not wait for the process to be completed,” he said.
Androulakis also commented on a potential challenge for the party leadership by the Athens Mayor Haris Doukas, who recently called on PASOK to “give voice to the base,” in a Kathimerini interview.
He said that Doukas’ ambitions are “legitimate,” but responded to the mayor, and other detractors, by stating that PASOK has not experienced continuous defeats but is “steadily rising under very difficult conditions.”
PASOK maintained its position in third place behind ruling New Democracy and opposition SYRIZA in the recent European Parliament elections, getting 12.8% of the vote.
