With Tsipras taking the populist narrative right out of their mouths, PASOK is searching for a narrative, but…

It was to be expected that the appearance of Alexis Tsipras on the central political stage would take the populist rhetoric out of the mouth of Nikos Androulakis and his associates, given that the original is always a better choice than the copies. Nevertheless, at Harilaou Trikoupi, they are unable to come up with a new narrative, having grown accustomed to the easy opposition tactic of doomsday scenarios and accusatory rhetoric.

In nearly three years in PASOK, they have failed to gain any credibility or establish themselves in the public consciousness as a legitimate opposition—a position they gained, of course, by default—and a center of power. They invested in doomsday rhetoric, in populism, and sought to revive the “blue and green coffeehouses” of the 1980s, creating a climate of division with anti-right-wing rhetoric.

With slogans such as “the people do not forget what the Right stands for”, employing neo-Avrianist rhetoric, and engaging in the targeting and character assassination of political opponents, they chose to draw votes from a pool of voters that, however, appears to align with other political camps. As a result, however, they lost whatever connection Nikos Androulakis’s predecessors had maintained with the political center.

Now they are facing the prospect of losing ground not only to Alexis Tsipras but also to the ruling party, and find themselves in a constant state of turmoil, as they see that theirtheir leader is unable to pursue a different political strategy or propose an alternative approach to governance, while the political window is closing even if the elections are held in April, as the prime minister constantly emphasizes.

PASOK officials appear desperate. Especially those who had warned Nikos Androulakis about what is happening today. After all, some had seen the… writing on the wall when Zoe Konstantopoulou managed to rise, even if only briefly, to second place thanks to the political… passes their leader gave her.