There is something about Greeks and elections. Many Greeks show an unexplainable lust for elections; if we had elections every six months, they would be happy. Apparently they love the atmosphere, the gatherings, the polls, the banners, the placards, the rallies, the speeches, the slogans, the chants, the noise, streets full leaflets, walls full of pictures, of smiling crooks who promise they care for us, the moment they cast the ballot, the celebrations after the win, or the justified bile after the loss. One might say that this lust for elections is the residue of the seven-year dictatorship. But the Spanish had 40 years of military rule and now they’re ok with elections every four years. Not to mention that most of those who have a fetish for elections were not even conceived between 1967 and 1974. In reality, this lust for elections is nothing more than the illusion of something better. The illusion that “our guys will do a better job than the other guys.” This is why politicians in Greece act like illusionists: You see the debt? Now it’s gone! You see the memorandum? Now you don’t! You see this empty hat? Now 300 billion euros will come out of it! You see the Turks in northern Cyprus? Now they will disappear! But only if you vote for us. I believe that for many voters, elections is an escape, something that keeps us away from harsh reality for a few weeks. “Let’s have elections now and see what happens.” Or, let’s have our elections fiesta now, have our fun, and who cares what happens next. Disregarding the cost. After all, who can put a price on hope? SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras visited President of the Republic Carolos Papoulias yesterday and asked him to call a meeting of party leaders to decide on a date for snap general elections and agree on a new presidential candidate that can be approved by MPs after the early polls. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras also met with Papoulias and stated that there will be no early elections and that the president of the republic will be elected by MPs when Papoulias’ term ends in March. The president of the republic advised both leaders to show a “minimum consensus” on the difficult economic, political and international issues Greece is facing right now. Unfortunately, the word “consensus” does not belong in the Greek political dialogue. And especially between two politicians who show such a lust for power. Samaras will do anything to keep his chair, Tsipras will do anything to sit on it. The problems of the country can wait. Who cares if schools and universities are occupied, people are in danger of losing their homes on account of state bureaucracy, Greeks get the lowest wages in Europe, yet they pay the highest prices for staples. And more importantly, who cares if the Turkish navy corvette Buyukada cruises leisurely around Kea and Kythnos, only 100 miles from the port of Piraeus. The two men didn’t even bother about that. They kept their petty arguments about elections. The argument the coalition premier is using is that Greece cannot go to elections now because the government has made giant steps towards the bailout and should keep on the path for growth. Tsipras, on the other hand, says that the government should quit now, before they sign another binding memorandum with our lenders. He also claims that a SYRIZA government will negotiate better (!) with our international creditors and that it will have a powerful popular mandate. It should be noted here that SYRIZA MPs never touch the subject of the continuous Turkish provocations because issues of national defense don’t sell to their voters. However, opinion polls show that both party leaders are not in the advantageous position they think they are. New Democracy gets a 21 percent on intention to vote and SYRIZA 26 percent. Greek people have suffered — and continue to suffer — from the austerity measures the ND and PASOK coalition have imposed on them. And Samaras is 28 votes short of electing a president from the current parliament. At the same time, figures hardly justify the “popular mandate” SYRIZA members claim they have in their hands. Only one fourth of Greek people would vote for the leftist party. And the May municipal and European parliament elections brought the opposition leftist party 150,000 votes short compared to the 2012 elections. The political disaffection of Greeks does not necessarily translate to votes for SYRIZA. Also, polls show great mistrust for both parties. Regarding the ability to bring Greece out of the memorandum, 64 percent say that Samaras is incapable of bringing us out of the memorandum and 69 percent believe that Tsipras cannot bring Greece out of the memorandum. At the same time, 51.6 percent of Greeks don’t want premature elections and 39.8 percent believe that we should go to the ballot boxes now. Also, 54.8 percent of Greeks believe that snap elections will stall the country’s exit from the economic crisis, 54.2 percent think that Greece is in better shape now than it was a year ago, and 42.9 percent believe that the situation in Greece will be better a year from now. Another paradox of the Greek voter is that even though they give the lead to SYRIZA, they believe that Samaras is more suitable for prime minister. Yes, 39.9 percent would prefer to see Samaras in the Maximos Mansion and 33.2 would like to see Tsipras there. The fact that two thirds of the Greek population don’t want to see either one of them in there doesn’t seem to discourage the two power-hungry politicians. Finally, 33.6 percent of potential voters trust that New Democracy will bring Greece out of the economic crisis, while only 26.4 percent of Greeks trust SYRIZA to achieve that. So, one would predict that if we had elections next month, SYRIZA would throw a great pre-elections fiesta, party members and voters would have their fun for a few weeks, 50 million euros from the state budget would be wasted, and after the ballots were counted, there wouldn’t be enough to form an autonomous government. I have the feeling that SYRIZA would fight for another election after that.
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