{"id":12713,"date":"2026-06-25T08:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=12713"},"modified":"2026-06-25T08:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:58:00","slug":"tsipras-and-androulakis-the-grooms-of-misfortune-and-the-bride-of-the-center-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=12713","title":{"rendered":"Tsipras and Androulakis: The Grooms of Misfortune and the Bride of the Center-Left"},"content":{"rendered":"

The heads of ELAS and PASOK respectively are, each in their own way, the primary culprits behind the fragmented and powerless political landscape.<\/b><\/p>\n

The changes taking place in the political landscape, day by day, as polls multiply, reveal a great deal. It is clear that New Democracy is clearly losing ground, and indeed, these losses are now driving the party\u2019s mobilization and intensification of reform efforts aimed at regaining its footing. <\/p>\n

Its support stands at less than 30%, which is relatively expected, based both on internal developments during its seven years in government and on external factors, such as the high cost of living. What seems to be incredibly paradoxical<\/b>, however, is the inability of Tsipras and Androulakis to convince the public that they can revive the center-left counterweight. The explanation does not lie with the voters; it lies with the leaders.<\/p>\n

Alexis Tsipras and Nikos Androulakis are, each in their own way, the primary culprits behind the fragmented and powerless center-left of 2026. This is not some harsh partisan criticism but rather the relentless documentation of political reality with\u2026 names and evidence.<\/b><\/p>\n

Alexis Tsipras rose to power in 2015 by capitalizing\u2014even through his well-known populism\u2014 the electorate\u2019s willingness to trust, in the midst of crisis and collective insecurity, the party apparatus that presented itself as the Left. <\/b><\/p>\n

SYRIZA<\/a> had promised free electricity <\/b>for the most vulnerable households, restoring the minimum wage to 751 euros,<\/b> abolishing the ENFIA property tax<\/b> as a \u201cstrangling tax,\u201d and restoring collective bargaining agreements. <\/b><\/p>\n

And the familiar promises along the lines of \u201cwith one law and one article.\u201d<\/b> In July 2015, having honored that trust with a referendum that resulted in 61.38% voting \u201cNO,\u201d the Tsipras government chose to sign the third memorandum\u2014the harshest of the three.<\/b><\/p>\n

Subsequently, the complete absence of genuine political accountability\u2014which continues to this day\u2014 turned this \u201cNO\u201d that became a \u201cYES\u201d into an open wound that has never healed. <\/b>The problem was not just the retreat itself, but how it was handled. In SKAI\u2019s recent documentary \u201cTo the Millimeter,\u201d the Greek public had the opportunity both to recall and to learn previously unknown details, none of which were flattering to the key figures of that era.<\/b><\/p>\n

But Alexis Tsipras did not respond to the defeat with commensurate maturity. Instead of clear self-criticism, the familiar splits followed: the first, after Kasselakis\u2019s victory in the party\u2019s internal elections in September 2023. Five months later, on the eve of SYRIZA\u2019s tumultuous conference at the\u2026 bouzouki clubs,<\/b> Tsipras openly challenged Kasselakis. The party, which under Alexis Tsipras\u2019s leadership had reached 36%, found itself disintegrating amid scenes of controlled chaos, many of which went beyond the bounds of farce.<\/b><\/p>\n

He himself made a triumphant return after the publication of \u201cIthaca.\u201d With plenty of center-leftists\u2014mainly PASOK members, to tell the truth\u2014and symbolism, he is vying with ELAS for the role of the alternative to New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis. <\/b><\/p>\n

The day before yesterday, it also announced its \u201cshadow\u201d sector heads\u2014figures who have played a catalytic role in its steep decline in the recent past. All this comes as the latest poll placed him in second place with 14.5%, behind New Democracy, which led with 28.1%. Almost double the percentage<\/b> and up by two points compared to a month ago.
Even further down, at 12.3%, is the other disappointing party of the Greek center-left, PASOK, with Nikos Androulakis at the helm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Alexis Tsipras represents a living example of failure<\/b> in handling issues of the utmost importance, Nikos Androulakis represents a different type of leadership failure<\/b>: inaction resulting from a lack of vibrant political discourse that convinces people of the vision, a plan, or inspiration.<\/p>\n

Androulakis assumed the leadership of PASOK at a particularly favorable juncture. In 2023, following SYRIZA\u2019s crushing defeat, the path seemed to be opening once again for a center-left party that would vie for dominance in the political arena. Instead, PASOK finished third in the 2024 European elections<\/b> with 12.8%, failing to secure second place, which had been its primary strategic goal. <\/p>\n

Now, many of its leaders are giving serious thought to their political and professional futures and, as a result, are toying with the idea of switching sides <\/b>to Amalia and Alexis Tsipras. It is by no means a coincidence that for some time now, officials at Harilaou Trikoupi have been raising the issue of leadership, nor, of course, is it a coincidence that \u201cOh, Andrea\u201d <\/b>by Nadia Giannakopoulou in front of Andreas Papandreou\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n

The question at hand is relatively simple: in a society facing a housing crisis, soaring cost of living, and the systematic weakening of the public sector \u2013 why is a party with a center-left identity failing to win back voters? <\/b><\/p>\n

Who is Androulakis addressing when he speaks out against both New Democracy and the Left at the same time? Not even to PASOK\u2019s internal party audience, which also seems to suffer from the same autoimmune disease that, even while you\u2019re sick, makes you believe you\u2019re perfectly healthy\u2014and even leads you to make plans for avictorious future. Who is working for whom? Or, rather, who is working whom?<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The leaders of the Hellenic Police and PASOK, respectively, are\u2014each in their own way\u2014the primary culprits behind the fragmented and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}