Greek politics are full of surprises but this morning’s mini-bomb is not only a tragic-comedy but the symptom of the deep degradation of the old political world that enabled the vacuum, in which Syriza engulfed with great success. This is probably the last chapter of the general decay that started with the disintegration of Pasok and is now likely to be followed by the break-up of Nea Democratia. This is evidenced by the discordant declarations of the various incumbents, more anxious to score a point against Evangelos Meimarakis and his alleged responsibility in the fiasco of K.EF.E, which mis-organized these primary elections, than to reflect on the dismal state of the party left in the hands of incompetent but scheming apparatchiks working in their interest instead of that of their party. These interests range from personal goals, support of certain policies or even worse, the profit of certain front figures within the party.
It is clear that in these declarations, the incumbent candidate has been accused and their hope is that, like in the old coliseum, one of the gladiators has been mortally wounded. This is highly unfair as the present temporary leader declared that he would not meddle in the preparation of the elections so, as not to be accused of tilting the wind in his favor. Whether he was right as a leader not to ensure the effectiveness and the probity of the electoral committee can be debated, but he must immediately clear the air by sacking the responsible actors of this debacle and organize as shortly as possible new elections with a different organization. It must be asked why the system and the company that was used successfully in the 2009 primaries, had not been retained.
Whatever the next actions: election, general congress and even resignations, it would seem that the credibility of the party has been severely emasculated and that it may lose shortly a lot of the political support it had built up in the past month and a half since the last elections. How can a party, that is unable to manage its own internal elections, pretend to run a country? What a tactical faux pas when Syriza is running out of steam!
Alexis Tsipras may be forced to make a government of national unity and Nea Democratia out of its own incompetence and reliance on a deficient party general staff will play a lesser role. Yet this could be a moment of change for Greece with a revised electoral system and a will for all parties to cooperate to make the needed reforms in a format best suited to the Country but yet acceptable to the Quartet.
As political ambitions defy pragmatic logic, It is always difficult to forecast the future but conditions seem right for new political forces to unite and form a new party that can gather together the will of a majority of patriotic Greeks, whose main concern is to forge together a new modern society that will generate renewed economic activity and pull the country out of the moving sands in which it finds itself.
Too many politicians have been compromised along the breadth of the old political formations and some have now joined the ranks of the Syriza party that claims purity. In such a context it is unrealistic and naïve that Pasok can be resurrected or Nea Democratia properly overhauled within a reasonable time to participate effectively in the rebirth of the Country. What is needed is a new party of the center with new faces from which a real leader can emerge over time. This may very well emerge during the life of a National Unity government whose life is likely to be short .
May a new party of the center be born! Why not call it “ PRO-ODEVTIKO KENTRO”