OCTOBER LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL ELECTIONS
The result of the May 21 elections and above all, the expected fierce battle between SYRIZA and PASOK for the position of official opposition in the elections of June 25, logically undermine any possibility of cooperation that existed between the two parties of the Greek Center Left in view of the self-governing October elections.
About a month ago, in a press conference, the head of the major opposition of the Regional Council close to SYRIZA, Giorgos Zapsas, stated that in any case and regardless of the course of the national elections, first and second, SYRIZA will open immediately after the first elections, the chapter of self-governing elections, to initiate decisions.
Of course, G. Zapsas, as well as no one in SYRIZA, did not expect the crushing dimensions of the defeat of SYRIZA in last Sunday’s elections, in such a way as to dramatically change the design of the current official opposition party, as for SYRIZA now the June elections are a battle for political survival. The party has already been put in an introspective spiral and if there are no surprises, included in the reorganization effort that it is said that he will seek from Thursday afternoon, with the meeting of the Central Committee, Alexis Tsipras, in SYRIZA no one is going to open a discussion on support and anointings for the municipal and regional elections in October, a topic that is capable of causing even greater tensions in the area.
For example, Yannis Stefos, a member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA and a re-elected member of parliament, made a public assessment in this exact direction, during the election night, saying that SYRIZA cannot deal with the self-governing elections, until at least June 25 .
Practically, this will mean that SYRIZA will have less than a month and a half, and in the summer (!), to make important decisions about its strategy in the upcoming municipal and regional elections.
Bridges are “burning”.
But there is also an issue of substance: in the strategy of the self-governing elections that was decided months ago for SYRIZA, by its collective bodies. The party in its collective procedures had decided to partner with other democratic forces, in Municipalities and Regions.
The implementation of this decision has never progressed until today, by the local organizations and by the existing self-governing factions of SYRIZA, in Municipalities and Regions, because this strategy was essentially undermined from within. Personal quarrels and confrontations did not allow, even where the conditions existed, to decide on collaborations.
In Epirus, there were discussions in the previous period and some conditions for agreements to be made in Municipalities such as Preveza, Igoumenitsa and Arta. In the first city, the scripts were quickly burned when a candidate appeared from the side of SYRIZA. Both he and the next one “burned”… a sign that simply there, the executives of SYRIZA do not wish to be placed under a leader, coming from PASOK. In Igoumenitsa, as well, Panagiotis Dais from PASOK has been campaigning for the October elections for a long time, however there has been no rallying mood with the people of SYRIZA, until today. Correspondingly, in Arta, cooperation scenarios have remained in words and have not progressed.
In the phase we are in now, this cannot proceed at all. Now a war of attrition is starting between PASOK and SYRIZA, but in the opposite direction from the one that followed from 2012 onwards. For more than a decade, the Movement has been losing voters and executives to the party of Alexis Tsipras. Now, a reverse course begins and SYRIZA is in the position of defender, in the position of “predator”… PASOK.
These conditions will cause stronger confrontation and polarization between the two spaces and no room will be left for cooperation in the next stage.
Finally, we must not ignore the fact that a party like SYRIZA, which is now in retreat, will not be particularly attractive for any candidate for Mayor or Regional Governor, in order to hope for electoral support.
This will probably translate into many autonomous descents for the Left party, in Municipalities and Regions, resulting in a repetition, perhaps with even worse percentages, of the “blue” self-governing map of 2019.
