Papandreou won but what was his game ?
The June 2 parliamentary elections, among other following the fall of the colonels in 1974. On the other things, were a challenge to the flexibility of the Greek hand, PĂSOK tightened the squeeze on the Moscowloyalist Communist Party (KKE), the largest of the language, and the press responded by inventing some
In fact, the ND did not have to be too unhappy about the two largest parties, its vote, which was substantially higher than its score
GREECE
One of its favourites was
("two-partyism"). In fact,
"traditional left"
"dikommatismos"
parties, to use Papandreou's phrase.
Andreas Papandreou's Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement in the parliamentary elections in 1981 and even in
(PASOK) and the right-wing New Democracy (ND) of the European elections in 1984. Moreover both the
Konstantinos Mitzotakis polarised the vote to an left and right press agreed that the ND had come out
The PASOK got 46.84% and unprecedented extent.
of the elections better organized and with a renewed the ND, 40.16. The latter completed its absorption of the far-right vote, which had some strength in the years
Gerry FOLEY
The major loser, the Greek press
Rizospastis, was the pro-Moscow party.
1981 parliamentary elections, the KKE got 10.93% of the vote.
the European elections of the same year it got 12.84%. The Eurocommunist CP-
Interior (KKE-es) got 1.34% in the 1981 parliamentary elections and 5.29 in the
European elections of that year. In the
1984 European elections, the KKE got
11.64% and the KKE-es, 3.42%. (1)
In the 1985 parliamentary elections, the two CPs got actually increased its vote by since it lost out in the competition with the KKE long ago and was reduced to a trace element in electoral politics, an increase on that order did not change
The important thing is that it to re-establish itself shattering the dreams aroused by its score in last year's
European elections.
the 4% or so that PASOK vote in the 1984 seems to have come mainly from potential CP voters.
fact, in last year's EEC elections, seemed to be in trouble. It held only a narrow lead over the ND, which it had trounced in 1981. In 1984, tionately in the more politicalized urban areas. That pattern generally continued this time. In Athens-A, PASOK got 44%
34.71% in the 1984 elections, the recent vote. In and 38.39% in
48.73 in 1981 and
Athens-B it got
42.59% in 1985.
A constituency of Peiraieus,
In the the heavily proletarian port of Athens,
PASOK got 48.17 in 1981, and 44.24% this time. In this constituency also the
International Viewpoint 17 June 1985 credibility. KKE vote collapsed, going from 12.20 in the 1984 elections to 4.12% in these. On the other hand, in Peiraieus-B, a very left district, the PASOK vote was down from 1981 elections, but not more than the national average. It fell from 51.16% in 1981 to 50.14, showing a sharp recovery elections. On the other hand, the KKE vote was down significantly from 21.28 in the 1981 elections to 17.28%.
country's main city, constituency A from 47.63% in 1981 to 41.74%, and the KKE's vote from 13.19 to 9.31%. In constituency B the PASOK vote fell from 46.75% to 41.19%, while the KKE vote increased somewhat from 10.53% in 1981 to 11.67%.
In commenting on the PASOK victory, Dimitris K. Tsikhogios wrote in the June 7 issue of the independent left weekly Anti: "It would be an exaggeration for the results of these elections surprising but they represent a very great victory for PASOK. After four years of running the government, it has managed to cut its losses to 2.2%. That is, it has held 95% of its voters. No other government party has done this
Second World War at least. The Radical Union (ERE) lost more than 12% of its vote between 1956 and 1958, and it had to use force and fraud to regain its 1956 percentage in 1961, only to see its vote collapse in 1963-64."
PASOK achieved this after seeing a clear erosion of shown by the 1984 elections. It was suffering from the same ills as the Socialist Party government in to live up to the expectations of the voters who put it in
Living standards continued to power.
decline, little concrete was being done about breaking from NATO and expelling the US bases, military spending has soared, and the government was floating schemes for increased militarization. (2)
On the other hand, the memory right-wing dictatorship and right-wing governments therefore, seems that Papandreou's move of removing the right's anchor man, Konstantinos presidency on March 9 and staging a duel with the right paid off in a new fouryear mandate for his government. He presented the elections as a straight leftright contest, in which PASOK was the only alternative to the right. The mass jubiliation at PASOK's victory obviously reflected the belief that the forces of reaction had been defeated and that the way was opened for progress.
In addition, PASOK may have gained the fact that Greek still enjoying some benefits from joining
This may also have been reason for opting for early elections, because it is not likely to last. In fact, modernization of agriculture necessary by EEC competition is going to impose heavy social costs in the Greek
"dikommatismos," the Greek press's favorite new word seemed to be "avodynami," that is, "self-sufficient," a PASOK government that can rule on its own without needing the support of any indeed it had a larger absolute majority
With 46.84% of the vote, PASOK got a 300 seats. It benefitted notably from a new electoral it pushed through fact, as the columnist Antenor noted in represents
18,144 votes: each ND one represents
These figures are from the June 3 issue of Elev thotypia, and represent incomplete returns. The comment in the Greek papers week later, however, indicates that there were no substantial changes.
2. See, "Papandreou talks peace but steps
International Viewpoint, No 62, October 20, up arms race. from Ergatike Pale.
1984.
5
20,634; each KKE seat, 42,459
And for its 117,050 votes the KKE-es got only one deputy.
What an "autodynami" government means in effect now is that Papandreou's already considerable personal role been still more reinforced. Among other things, the president is no longer counterweight. The new one,
Sartzetakis, does not have the sort of base of his own that Karamanlis did. Furthermore, it is an open secret that Papandreou intends to the constitutional powers of this office.
Moreover, in his first news conference after the election, he pledged
"separate the movement [PASOK] from the government." (3)
Despite all the right's denunciations of Papandreou in the past as a dangerous demagogue, the dominant forces seemed anything but worried by the outcome of this election. For example, in its editorial "The Lessons of the June 2 Vote, " Oikonomikos Takhydromos, the most authoritative business weekly, made the following comments:
"The initial and perhaps the most important conclusion that can be drawn from these elections is that it is not the parties of the Communist left that expressed what the "Change" meant and that PASOK would interpret the meaning of its 1981 vote and advance the wishes of those voters. Even if we assume that some supporters of the left voted for PASOK out of fear that the ND would win ... no one can say those who voted for PASOK reject the sort of "Change" it offers and prefer that advanced by the two Communist parties. On the other hand, the fact that despite the well-known desertions of Marxists from PASOK before the elections and their joining of KKE, the strength of the latter has declined substantially. This means that these people were an alien body in the governing party...
"Today, it should be clear that PASOK and its leadership need not be so sensitive to left pressure or pay so much attention to the noisy phrasemongering of the left, which represents only about 10% of the Greek people...
"The second conclusion, which follows from the first, is that the Greek people have approved not the failures and mistakes of the PASOK ... but its fundamental moderate political The latter, despite the party's extreme
I "megalostomia,"
"big-mouthedness"], has been sensible and realistic (despite occasional harmful backsliding) ...
"To be more clear, what the great mass of the Greek people who support
PASOK have endorsed is not only this party has done positively but what in the last analysis it has not done. What remaining in NATO, the acceptance of the fact (which is bearing fruit) of EEC equidistancing from the big blocks, equal condemnation weapons, a prudent handling question of favorable attitude to private enterprise, a realistic attitude to foreign capital ...
KKE, from its standpoint, drew a similar conclusion. It accused PASOK having waged an anti-Communist campaign and preparing a reconciliation
US imperialism. the KKE of Papandreou's conference after his victory.
"With the answers he gave yesterday in Zappeios, the premier left no doubt that both on economic and foreign policy questions his options will be still more conservative than in the past four years.
He also made it clear that in order to follow this faint-hearted line, the PASOK it necessary to continue to extend the anti-Communist attack that it mounted throughout the electoral campaign." following examples: Papandreou called for improving relations with the US. He refused to give any clear answers when asked about the deadline for removal of US bases. He refused to say anything definite about the removal denuclearization of the Balkans now depended on what the Romanian government did. He said that the EEC was not an issue now but rather "what policy to said that Greece's relationship to NATO would not change but that the problem was getting it to recognize the status quo in the Aegean.
the premier said he would continue to follow an economic policy of "stabilization," that is, austerity.
The KKE daily noted with disapproval Papandreou's charge that the two CPs had waged a "one-front" war against PASOK and tailed to recognise his government's "importance for the left."
Commenting Papandreou's conference in its June 6 issue, Augi, the the KKE-es. made points. In addition, it pointed out that PASOK had failed to abolish the special units and that the promised "democratization and independence of the union movement" had turned into "total dependence, a new government exaltation of the spirit of splitting the workers."
On the other hand, the Soviet press hailed Papandreou's victory an "Inspiring Triumph of the Democratic
June 4.) That could represent appreciation for Papandreou's verbal opposition to US policy and his condemnation of Solidarnosc.
the left voters their ballots for it as the only alternative government. In fact Ergatike Pale, the paper of the Greek Fourth Internationalists, wrote before of the policy of the reformist ... is becoming clearer every day to the broadest of working people. The weak profile of these parties in the campaign is an indication of their emergence of the the right, for the working masses is an bankruptey." "Especially after the rise of
PASOK, the position of these parties has swung back and forth between full support of the policy of PASOK and fainthearted criticism of it."
In the June 6 Anti, Stelios Kouloglou argued that the KKE had been suffering from the sort of loss of credibility among its more political urban voters as the
PASOK, and that its major losses came precisely in its old bastions, where people could vote for it without worrying about wasting their votes. He presented figures showing that in absolute terms, the KKE vote had declined by 7.1% in Athens,
Peiraieus, while rising about 6.9% in other areas.
On the other hand, both CPs pointed to seats that could have been kept from the right if PASOK had accepted a joint
KKE argued that its relative losses had not fundamentally reduced its strength, which is evident, although they represented a serious immediate setback and a continuation of the party's marginalization by PASOK. The emphasis in the KKE press and in the independent left press indicate clearly that the party is now going to try to show its strength on the social level to prove that it still has bargaining important impetus to struggles. Unfortunately, besides its opportunism, the KKE has a very sectarian tradition. sort of drum banging that it has started appears more useful in hardening up the ranks than uniting people in struggle.
Pale opposed a vote PASOK, while calling for a stand against right. "By its position waving the bogeyman of the right, PASOK is trying to close the eyes of working people to the catastrophic effects of the policy it has followed for the past four years and conceal as much as possible what it plans for the future." ended by explaining the need for a real anticapitalist left that could give leadership to the mass struggle against PASOK's right-wing policies after the election. 3. Ta Nea, June 6, 1985.
International Viewpoint 17 June 1985
CLAUDE BERTE