Instead of seeking the real causes of stagnation and continued attrition, PASOK cadres are engaging in familiar tactics that are strongly reminiscent of the worst days of Syriza.

Each new poll that sees the light of day causes irritation in Charilaou Trikoupis. But instead of looking for the real causes of the stagnation and constant attrition, party executives engage in a familiar tactic that strongly recalls the worst days of SYRIZA: blame the polling companies, blame the media, blame communication, blame everyone but themselves.

But the reality is inexorable: PASOK is seeing its ratings remain stagnant, while in crucial constituencies it is recording a picture of political retreat. In Attica, where a party’s political dominance is largely decided, its performance remains disappointing. In Thessaloniki, where PASOK once had a strong foothold, the picture is equally problematic. Even in the Dodecanese, a region with traditional references to the Central Left, the data show that the party is failing to build momentum.

The biggest problem, however, is not the numbers. It is the sense of political embarrassment that the leadership is emitting. Nikos Androulakis appears to follow a strictly person-centred, “IX politics”, where decisions are made in a narrow circle, with no clear strategy and no political narrative to inspire society.

Citizens are struggling to understand what exactly PASOK stands for today. Is it an opposition? Is it a government partner in waiting? Is it a party of protest? Is it a force for centrist management? This ambiguity has become a permanent feature of its political presence.

At the same time, internal party grumbling is growing. MPs and executives may avoid public clashes, but in the party corridors the debate is constant. Many wonder whether Nikos Androulakis can actually lead PASOK to electoral recovery or whether he has already reached his political ceiling.

In this climate of misery and political Babel came the public intervention of MEP Nikos Papandreou, who said that citizens are looking for a solution that they cannot find in any party, noting about PASOK’s ratings that “the needle has not left where it was”, He added that this “must say something after 12 polls” and the leadership would do well to take it seriously.

Asked whether PASOK should be open to any political discussion, he made it clear that “we must be open,” stressing that after the first Sunday, it will be open to PASOK to decide democratically before the elections. Let’s see where we are after the first Sunday”. So, from day to day and God willing…

So the problem is not the polls. The polls simply record what is already happening in society. The problem is that PASOK’s leadership seems not to understand that political stagnation is not dealt with by denouncing the polls but by political regrouping, clear positions and a convincing strategy.

Because when for months the numbers insist on showing the same thing, the mirror is not to blame. It’s the image it reflects. And the citizens have already started to draw their own conclusions and these, for the time being, are not causing anything but optimism at Charilaou Trikoupis.

A party that a few years ago appeared as the great contender for a return to the limelight, is now trapped in stagnation, inward-looking and unable to convince even its own voters that it can be an alternative to power.

The most worrying thing, then, is not the decline in PASOK’s ratings, but the fact that society seems to have already reached a verdict on its own president. Nikos Androulakis fails to inspire, to rally and, above all, to convince that he has the characteristics of a leader who can lead his party into a governmental perspective.

And yet, instead of reflection, self-criticism and political reboot, PASOK is looking for blame elsewhere. A choice strongly reminiscent of SYRIZA in recent years before its collapse, when every unpleasant finding was dubbed “manipulation” instead of being treated as a warning bell.

The problem has a name: Nikos Androulakis, the leader who one day appears a fierce opponent of the government. The next he sends messages of consensus. Sometimes he attempts to speak to the centre and other times he flirts with the traditional centre-left. The result is that no one knows exactly what PASOK’s policy proposal is and everyone is looking for an esperanto so that they can come to an understanding…

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