The internal party ballot in PASOK<\/b> did not just produce a result. It recorded a political reality that for Charis Doukas<\/b> is now difficult to hide behind communicative interpretations.<\/b><\/p>\n
Where the mayor of Athens’s entourage triumphantly discounted that he would emerge second<\/b> in power in the Central Committee, he eventually came fourth. <\/b>And not just fourth – but with a clear message from the party apparatus that he is not the pole of influence that he and his associates attempted to portray.<\/p>\n
The most revealing aspect of the ballot is not just his own position in the rankings. It is his inability to elect even his close core of associates. DAEM CEO and his best man, Lazaros Karaoulis,<\/b> Deputy Mayor of Municipal Police Eleni Zotirou,<\/b> his close associate Mr. Zumeros, and the once powerful press minister Christos Protopas<\/b> – the man considered the political mastermind on his staff – were left out.<\/b><\/p>\n
Simply put, the main body of the apparatus supporting Duke, both inside and outside City Hall, failed to pass the filter of the party’s grassroots.<\/b><\/p>\n
And that says a lot.<\/p>\n
Doukas’s only institutional presence on the Central Committee essentially stems from his ex officio participation,<\/b>which stems from his position as mayor of Athens – a position practically provided by the party leadership. That is, while he<\/b><\/b> attempted to appear as a rival of the leadership,<\/b> his presence in the top party body was secured by the very system he criticized.<\/p>\n
At the same time, his second position of Manolis Christodoulakis -a politician who had previously been considered his fellow traveller – completely rearranges the correlations within the party. <\/b>The inner-party pyramid is changing, and Duke is now much lower than where he thought he would stand.<\/p>\n
But this is not a bolt from the blue. The path to this development began when Harris Dukas chose to run for the leadership of PASOK just three months after his election as mayor of Athens.<\/b>A move that many in the party considered hasty and politically misguided. He had asserted that he would be “the mayor of Athens, not a professional politician”. However, within a short time he entered the battle for the party leadership.<\/b><\/p>\n
The result was heavy: losing 60-40 to Nikos Androulakis. <\/b>And even that 40%, as many within PASOK point out, was the product of a bunching of votes from those candidates who were eliminated in the first round – Nadias Giannakopoulou, Michalis Katrinis and Pavlos Geroulanou. In other words, the political dynamics he claims were more about numerical circumstance than actual intra-party strength.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Central Committee ballot simply confirmed what was already beginning to emerge: that a large part of the party cadres are not following him.<\/b><\/p>\n
At the same time, according to reports, Charis Doukas appears to be looking for political outlets outside the narrow framework of Charilaou Trikoupis.<\/b> Reports say that he has opened a channel of communication with George Papandreou, while the possibility of convergence with the political project being prepared by Alexis Tsipras is reportedly on the table.<\/b><\/p>\n
If these processes are confirmed, then the political picture becomes even more complicated. For this will be a mayor who was elected with the support of a broader progressive audience, but currently seems to be politically at a crossroads between multiple camps.<\/b><\/p>\n
Within PASOK, however, the message from the Central Committee is clear: Duke is not – at least for now – the alternative pole of power.<\/b><\/p>\n
And according to reports, the party leadership is expected to ask him to clarify his stance. To choose whether to operate as a “soldier” of the party or as a constant intra-party opponent of the leadership.<\/b><\/p>\n
Because to date, Charilaou Trikoupis officials say, he often appears to operate as a third party: as a autonomous general without an army.<\/b><\/p>\n
And in politics, this is perhaps the most dangerous part.<\/p>\n
The epilogue, then, for Harry Doukas is perhaps the harshest of all the political bills he has so far had to pay. For the biggest problem is not just his electoral retreat within the party. It is the image of a politician who seems to have not yet decided exactly who he wants to be. <\/b><\/p>\n
On the one hand, he attempts to present himself as a top PASOK leader, on the other leaving open bridges to the left,<\/b> while at the same time maintaining a permanent attitude of internal party questioning towards the leadership.<\/b><\/p>\n
This political tactic, however, does not resemble a strategy. It is more reminiscent of political swing.<\/b> And swinging in politics does not create currents – it creates suspicion.<\/b> When a politician appears simultaneously as mayor, aspiring leader, intra-party critic and potential interlocutor of other political spaces, the message he sends is not momentum, but uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Harris Dukas now faces a clear dilemma: or decide to chart a clear political course, with clear positions and a specific orientation, or continue to move in a grey zone of political equilibrium<\/b> that ultimately weakens him. Because in politics, the most dangerous point is not defeat. It’s the uncertainty. <\/b><\/p>\n
And the longer he delays making radical decisions about who he is and where he wants to go, the more his political capital will continue to erode – until he turns from a promising presence into yet another lost bet for the Greek center-left.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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