by Marcus Papadopoulos
Greece’s opposition socialist party stormed to victory in the country’s general election last Sunday. Pasok – the Panhellenic Socialist Movement – secured 44 per cent of the vote compared to 34 per cent for the centre-right New Democracy party led by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.
The make-up of the new Greek parliament will see Pasok with 160 seats and New Democracy with 92 seats out of a total of 300.
Pasok’s victory in the election – called early by Mr Karamanlis in order to secure a new mandate from the electorate to confront Greece’s worsening economic situation – brings an end to five years in the political wilderness for the socialists.
George Papandreou, the American-born Pasok leader, told jubilant supporters at his party’s headquarters in Athens: “Together we start the great national effort of putting the country back on a course of revival, development and growth. We don’t have a day to waste.
“I know very well the great potential of this country. Potential that is being drowned by corruption, favouritism, lawlessness and waste. Potential that we will set free. I promise that I will do whatever is possible so that all Greeks will believe again that we can succeed.”
Outgoing Prime Minister Karamanlis announced his resignation as leader of New Democracy after the results and offered Mr Papandreou his congratulations.
Greece has been hit hard by the global economic recession and has seen a dramatic rise in unemployment. Analysts believe that public debt may soon surpass 100 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Pasok ran a rigorous campaign which pledged the implementation of traditional socialist policies, including high taxes for the rich, an increase in salaries and pensions and more support for the most vulnerable in society.
The campaign ran with a slogan similar to that used by Barack Obama during the American presidential election last year. “Together, we can” tipped the nod to Mr Obama’s “Yes we can” and was, possibly, also a gesture that Mr Papandreou would like to enjoy closer relations with Washington. Indeed, President Obama was one of the first international leaders to congratulate Mr Papandreou by telephone.
Mr Papandreou’s victory reinforces his family’s dominance of the Greek political scene. The Papandreou dynasty – Greece’s equivalent to the Kennedys in the United States – can now boast of having supplied the country with three prime ministers: George Papandreou senior and Andreas Papandreou – respectively grandfather and father of the new premier – and now George Papandreou junior.
