The PASOK, mired in internal tensions and strategic ambiguity, appears to be losing ground, with the leadership Androulakis facing criticism for political deadlock and introversion.
Following the departure of Alexis Tsipras, Nikos Androulakis missed a historic opportunity to win back the voters that PASOK lost during the years of the “Ruling Left” by SYRIZA.
Recently, again due to Nikos Androulakis’s actions, PASOK is trapped and essentially weakened. It has become “too far to the left” for its moderate centrist voters and “not left-wing enough” for those on the left who, following the dissolution of SYRIZA, were looking for a home and seem to have found it—according to the polls—in Alexis Tsipras’s party.
Clearly, the problem did not arise with the former prime minister’s return to the central political stage. The political reality, as reflected in recent polls, shows that the leadership’s fixation on an agenda focused almost exclusively on scandal-mongering has left the field open for an alternative governance proposal.
This strategic vacuum was exploited by forces with “left-wing expertise” in escalation tactics, as confirmed by the loss of second place (in the polls) by ELAS.
Essentially, Nikos Androulakis paved the way for Alexis Tsipras by squandering valuable political capital on judicial and accusatory rhetoric.
Poverty led to discontent
In the realm of harsh denunciation and polarization, the parties representing traditional left-wing populism —with clearly greater experience and communicative aggressiveness than PASOK as we remember it under Kostas Simitis– were expected to attract voters seeking a hardline, anti-right-wing, and sweeping opposition.
This explains why, with the reemergence of the new left-wing pole, PASOK is hovering between third and fourth place. And because, as the saying goes, “poverty breeds grumbling,” the party apparatus—as is customary in such cases outside of official channels—began orchestrating attacks between Anna Diamantopoulou and Haris Doukas.
The mayor of Athens may have delegated his duties to Christos Protopapas, but he has personally taken on the task of returning PASOK to its traditional policies. Certainly, beyond the mayor’s office, he has no substantial ideological differences from Nikos Androulakis.
Like the PASOK president, he, too, seeks to shift PASOK to the left, and in fact is calling for a pre-election alliance with Alexis Tsipras’s party. In contrast to the “movement-oriented” PASOK, whose narrative is led by… the acting mayor, Haris Doukas, Anna Diamantopoulou’s faction—which represents the social-democratic, pro-European, and technocratic wing—is lagging behind.
Haris Doukas’s faction is attempting to win over SYRIZA’s left-leaning base, while Anna Diamantopoulou’s faction targets centrists who have shifted toward New Democracy.
The recent clashes between Anna Diamantopoulou and Haris Doukas reflect the political impasse into which Nikos Androulakis’s policies have gradually led PASOK.
His fatal mistake was that he turned PASOK a “communal vessel” with the radical Left, as represented by SYRIZA and even the Freedom Movement.
And while New Democracy projected an image of dominance by completely dominating the centrist spectrum, and SYRIZA, following Alexis Tsipras’s departure, found itself in turmoil, PASOK—instead of filling the void and presenting a coherent alternative governance plan—focused on exploiting events by resorting to tactics designed to create tension in order to undermine the government and the prime minister personally.
Ultimately, what it sought to achieve at the expense of Kyriakos Mitsotakis—namely, to create a climate of introversion within New Democracy and, with the cooperation of the friendly press, to promote… “dolphin” candidates, it is suffering in the most painful way through the public clashes between Doukas and Diamantopoulou, as well as the “silences” of Geroulanos and Christodoulakis.
Constant introversion
Be that as it may, the PASOK president is unable to control the inner workings of his party and hopes that the “summer lull” and the traditional hiatus in opinion polls during the summer will provide him with political “breathing room” to turn the tide that has been working against him.
However, at this stage, it seems extremely unlikely that this lull will work in Nikos Androulakis’s favor. This political “dead time” does not work in favor of the PASOK president, because the internal party opposition is not taking a break. It should be noted that pollsters, although they do not publish their figures in July and August, nevertheless continue to track trends.
This, combined with the current situation—as it has taken shape—and the ongoing skepticism and introversion at Harilaou Trikoupi, tends to take on permanent characteristics.
Consequently, the first days of fall will be critical for the political future of Nikos Androulakis, who will have to face the scenario he himself had indirectly envisioned for the prime minister: a “mid-course” leadership change in PASOK. Because if the downward trend in the September polls continues, with internal party tensions running high, Nikos Androulakis will not be able to shoulder the weight of his responsibilities.
