Eight different PASOK parties are looking for a leader

Once, in the days of his all-powerful empire, things were simple. There were two Panhellenic Socialist movements, one represented by Agis Zozazopoulos and the other that Costas Simitis aspired to represent. Their differences were obvious. So, at the most significant congress in the history of the Greens, held in June 1996, only two candidates competed for its leadership. Today, eight executives have declared their intention to take its presidential seat. Of course, not many will arrive by October 6. After all, before the official campaign in mid-September, they must collect at least 5,000 signatures in support of their candidacy. Some believe that the number of contenders for the presidency will increase public opinion’s interest in the internal processes of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. Others believe that its already large numbers are a reflection of the party’s current status as a small- to medium-sized party – because many people believe they are capable of taking charge of it. Of course, the real question is whether there are really eight different Panhellenic Socialist Movement parties looking for a leader. Or, in other words, what kind of party do each of them want to represent?

‘The trajectory has changed’

The current president often talks about what the Panhellenic Socialist Movement has achieved under his leadership. In fact, he repeats at every opportunity that when he took over, it was about 8%, while now it has reached 13%. At the same time, he recalls that last year he was asked whether he would work with ND or SYRIZA, and that this year Harilaou Trikoupi has conquered its “autonomy”. The motto of this bogeyman is that the party has “changed course” – albeit slowly. Since he is the current president, for his part, one does not need to assume (by studying his statements) the rhetoric, programmatic positions and methods of functioning of the movement during his tenure. It provides a clear sample for December 2021.

“New Faction”

Pavlos Geroulanos analyzed that PASOK “has the capacity” to create “a new faction that represents the needs of Greek society today and will inspire progressive citizens from the left and the center as progressive citizens” who vote ND today. Therefore, the party under his leadership will emphasize how to try to change the administrative and economic model of the state. This is why he wants to open PASOK to local communities so that it can eventually launch a “decentralized” management model, he claimed. The appropriate way to achieve this result involves combining politics with technocratic experience.

‘Complete reorganization’

“It is time to talk about the complete reorganization of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement,” Anna Diamantopoulou said in her first interview after announcing her candidacy. The center-left cannot wait to hear this and find out what she envisions for the day after her election. Moreover, before Anna, who talked about Kozani at the age of 15 in the video, had already revealed herself as an advocate of “reformist social democracy.” According to her opponents in the party, she has enough opportunities to attract the so-called right-wing voters of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, as well as those who abandoned the Panhellenic Socialist Movement for New Democracy. They point out that because the Diamantopoulos party could be similar to the centrist, pasocio-nationalist, ND party.

Harry Ducas

“No party, no office”

In the campaign of Harris Doukas played a central role in the victory of ND a few months ago in the Athens municipality. Not only because the mayor claimed to be the first center-left to doubt the power of the ruling party. But also because it allowed him to show who would be the opponent of PASOK, which he would control. Since then, in his tours and until now (before his statement that “we must create an institutionalized, serious, open, autonomous, independent party in which we will make decisions. No groups, no offices, no closed systems”), he drugged the greens. Audience members declared that “PASOK will clash with the Democratic Union! PASOK will clash with Mitsotakis and govern!”

Michalis Katrinis

Betting on the basis

“Political parties have principles and values. They are not transit centres where people leave, go to the other side and then return with the same ease as if nothing had happened,” Michalis Katrinis said this week. The candidate is betting, then, that his party’s patriotism will resonate. He therefore privately wonders whether “some people” want PASOK to remain “a small or medium-sized party” because it is “in a long period of decline” and is therefore “inevitably destined to become an integral part of a New Democracy government”. . His fellow sixth-floor Harilaou Trikoupi will therefore continue with the much-touted strategy of autonomous marches – a strategy of forming two fronts with the National Democratic Alliance and Syriza.

Milena Apostolaki

“KO’s Collaborative Operation”

Milena Apostolaki set the goal for Panhellenic Socialist Movement to become a “militant opposition” and recalled that “while it has repeatedly succeeded in playing the role of the majority progressive, it has done so through broad social alliances” – before noting that it disagrees with the “opportunistic sum of parties” of the center-left. When asked to describe the inner workings of the party, she promised those who came to vote for the party leader that she advocated regular meetings of small bodies that would provide “strong legitimacy to the party’s decisions,” “staff around the leadership” and “coordinated functioning of the KO.”

Nadia Gianakopoulou

“We all work together to support the Panhellenic Socialist Movement”

Nadia Giannakopoulou said in her statement that she spoke to “the broad majority of society, from the margins of New Democracy to the margins of Syriza, who did not find a convincing political proposal in previous European elections”. Pasok itself has reason to speculate that it will eventually vote “yes” in the parliamentary vote on the institutionalization of postal voting, support the creation of non-state universities and directly support same-sex marriage – after all, on all of the above, it did not hide its distance from the official party line set by the current president.

Yannis Kanellakis

Loyal to Andreas

The PASOK imagined by the seventh candidate, Yiannis Kanellakis, who introduced himself as the Dolphin, is the easiest to describe. “Andreas, we will never betray you…! Panhellenic Socialist Movement is here, united, strong…!” he concluded when announcing his candidacy. The 1980s movement was the model he claimed to replicate. What if today’s political, economic and social conditions make its revival a dream? Or has reality proven that even political professionals with a gift for communication have no way of being as convincing as Andreas II?