Definitions of political scandal vary, referring in particular to the offense of morality, illegal behavior, but also the resulting social outrage. But I do not think there is a simpler definition than that a scandal is corruption that is exposed (Lowi, 1988).
The management of a political scandal, which mainly exposes government corruption, puts the leadership, the party, those involved on alert.
The treatment of revelations along the lines of political science and common experiences revolves around two opposing options.
A. The first is for the government to manage the disclosure of any scandal with honesty and speed and above all with accountability and responsibility.
This management concerns democratic regimes and presupposes the leader’s respect for society, i.e. an ethical perception of politics.
This tactic was followed by PASOK during the government of George Papandreou in 2010, when one week after relevant publications about the financial situation of former minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, his party membership was suspended.
In fact, the PASOK MPs requested the formation of a preliminary investigation committee, which decided to prosecute the former minister.
If the PASOK MPs who were the majority in parliament had not voted for his impeachment, the scandal would not have been investigated.
One will certainly wonder if this attitude of the PASOK party was appreciated by the Greek society. The answer is no. On the contrary, the criminal prosecution of Akis Tsochatzopoulos and what followed contributed to the collapse of his electoral percentages.
PASOK followed the path of truth and was punished for it.
B. The second option of dealing with political scandals is the denial of reality, which is characteristic of weak democracies or authoritarian regimes.
The dominant cover-up practices concern in particular the denial of the scandal, defamation of the complainant, destruction of evidence, delay of investigations, threats to those who know the truth, buying the silence of the press, etc.
The ND government managed the shocking revelations of the wiretapping and the crime of Tempe by denying any responsibility, mainly:
a) by destroying evidence of the Tempe crime scene and by the (leaking) destruction of surveillance files in the wiretapping scandal,
b) by discrediting every opposition voice as allegedly undermining the stability of the country,
c) by denying the facts and leaking false information from its dominant friendly press,
d) with public threats against witnesses, as in the wiretapping scandal,
e) mainly by creating scandals to cover up scandals.
Thus, the scandal of the lack of remote control – signaling that led to the crime of Tempe was followed by the scandal of the falsification of the conversations between the station master and the train driver.
And then followed the scandal of covering up the truth in the investigation committee, which ended with the scandalous provocation of the ND MPs who gave a standing ovation to Kostas Karamanlis in the Parliament.
Similarly, the scandal of the monitoring of Nikos Androulakis was followed by the government scandal of defamation leaks, which was followed by the scandal of public threats by prominent ND officials to EYP employees, to follow the scandal of the obstruction of ADAE and the president of Christos Rammu to impose sanctions.
The cover-up scandals – and it is not only the above – have emerged as a hideous modus operandi of the government. Justice is sought.
#Coverups #scandals #scandals #Documento
