Early September in Greece usually means the end of the holiday season and the re-opening of the schools. This year, however, it is all very different as we are also in the middle of a general election campaign after the Government’s announcement for a snap election (six months earlier than the end of its four-year term) for the 16th of September.
General elections in Greece are a very big deal and a time when everyone is talking about politics. All TV channels have changed their programme and include extended coverage of the election campaign with daily debates involving the main five parties who are expected to be represented in the new Parliament. Despite the European Basketball championships, possibly the number one sport in Greece, which started last night in Spain (where Greece defends its European title it won two years ago), the forthcoming election already is and expected to remain the number one topic of conversation.
The campaign started disastrously for the governing conservative party with the devastating forest fires which have killed 65 people and destroyed more than two million acres of land in the south of Greece. The campaign is still centred around the aftermath of the fires with the Government handing out quick cash to those who were affected and the opposition accusing the government of electioneering and incompetence in dealing with the fires.
An amendment to the new election law (voted in by the Government about a month ago) prohibits the publication of opinion polls a fortnight before the elections (something quite unique in election campaigning across Europe, and an absolutely appalling practice if you ask me!). The last of the opinion polls were published last Friday and unfortunately (mainly due to lack of time) they all lacked credibility as they (a) were based on telephone interviews (as opposed to face-to-face surveys where those interviewed use an actual ballot-box to express their preference) (b) used non-random (i.e. unrepresentative) samples, (c) used unacceptable questionnaires and (d) were conducted during a period when most people were on holidays. Therefore, the reported “difference” of between 0.3%-1.6% in favour of the conservative party (“New Democracy” - ND) is not to be trusted and in any case is within the polls’ sampling error. What seems very likely at this stage is that the new Parliament will have 5 parties with an increased possibility of a hung parliament.
The main opposition socialist party (“PASOK”) is hoping to return to power after 3.5 years in opposition; the Communist party (KKE) seems set to retain its third place in Greek politics with possibly a substantial increase in its share of the vote; SIRIZA (a collaboration of about 12 left-leaning parties headed by “Sinaspismos”) as well as LAOS hope to easily achieve the minimum of 3% that will allow them to be represented in the new Parliament. LAOS is a right-wing party which had the misfortune to be put in the “same league” by foreign media with Mr Le Pen’s National Front in France and the BNP in the UK; it’s policies are shamelessly right-wing, nationalistic and anti-immigration, but not that dissimilar to the policies of the Conservative party in the UK, for example.
I plan to cover the Greek election in some detail with a series of “election blogs” over the next few days, so I will stop today’s blog with the result from the previous General Election in 2004, both for the whole of Greece and Symi in particular. Symi (as well as the Dodekanese region as a whole) has a history of voting for the Left and giving PASOK a big majority irrespective of the national result.
ps. Below is the view from my balcony 10 minutes ago. Symi in early September is still very hot and very busy despite the few clouds that appeared today (a very rare occurrence even for September!). The temperature is expected to drop briefly to the late 20s/early 30s for a couple of days, but a lot higher temperatures are expected by the weekend. Summer is still here and is not expected to go away for another couple of months at least!
General elections in Greece are a very big deal and a time when everyone is talking about politics. All TV channels have changed their programme and include extended coverage of the election campaign with daily debates involving the main five parties who are expected to be represented in the new Parliament. Despite the European Basketball championships, possibly the number one sport in Greece, which started last night in Spain (where Greece defends its European title it won two years ago), the forthcoming election already is and expected to remain the number one topic of conversation.
The campaign started disastrously for the governing conservative party with the devastating forest fires which have killed 65 people and destroyed more than two million acres of land in the south of Greece. The campaign is still centred around the aftermath of the fires with the Government handing out quick cash to those who were affected and the opposition accusing the government of electioneering and incompetence in dealing with the fires.
An amendment to the new election law (voted in by the Government about a month ago) prohibits the publication of opinion polls a fortnight before the elections (something quite unique in election campaigning across Europe, and an absolutely appalling practice if you ask me!). The last of the opinion polls were published last Friday and unfortunately (mainly due to lack of time) they all lacked credibility as they (a) were based on telephone interviews (as opposed to face-to-face surveys where those interviewed use an actual ballot-box to express their preference) (b) used non-random (i.e. unrepresentative) samples, (c) used unacceptable questionnaires and (d) were conducted during a period when most people were on holidays. Therefore, the reported “difference” of between 0.3%-1.6% in favour of the conservative party (“New Democracy” - ND) is not to be trusted and in any case is within the polls’ sampling error. What seems very likely at this stage is that the new Parliament will have 5 parties with an increased possibility of a hung parliament.
The main opposition socialist party (“PASOK”) is hoping to return to power after 3.5 years in opposition; the Communist party (KKE) seems set to retain its third place in Greek politics with possibly a substantial increase in its share of the vote; SIRIZA (a collaboration of about 12 left-leaning parties headed by “Sinaspismos”) as well as LAOS hope to easily achieve the minimum of 3% that will allow them to be represented in the new Parliament. LAOS is a right-wing party which had the misfortune to be put in the “same league” by foreign media with Mr Le Pen’s National Front in France and the BNP in the UK; it’s policies are shamelessly right-wing, nationalistic and anti-immigration, but not that dissimilar to the policies of the Conservative party in the UK, for example.
I plan to cover the Greek election in some detail with a series of “election blogs” over the next few days, so I will stop today’s blog with the result from the previous General Election in 2004, both for the whole of Greece and Symi in particular. Symi (as well as the Dodekanese region as a whole) has a history of voting for the Left and giving PASOK a big majority irrespective of the national result.
|
Party
|
General Election 2004 (MPs) |
2004 Result in Symi |
|
ND
PASOK KKE SIRIZA LAOS DIKKI* Other parties |
45.4% (165)
40.6% (117) 5.9% (12) 3.3% (6) 2.2% (-) 1.8% (-) 0.8% (-) |
38.7%
53.9% 2.0% 2.3% 1.1% 1.1% 0.3% |
*Not participating in the 2007 election; most of its candidates collaborate with SIRIZA
ps. Below is the view from my balcony 10 minutes ago. Symi in early September is still very hot and very busy despite the few clouds that appeared today (a very rare occurrence even for September!). The temperature is expected to drop briefly to the late 20s/early 30s for a couple of days, but a lot higher temperatures are expected by the weekend. Summer is still here and is not expected to go away for another couple of months at least!
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