As the popularity of governing New Democracy wanes considerably, opposition parties do not gain ground, an indication that Greeks are losing trust in politicians.
In a late August poll conducted by interview.com.gr, participants were asked who would be the most suitable candidate for prime minister. A staggering 48 percent replied “No one.”
For the record, respondents were given the names of the three leading parties’ presidents. Among these were ND President Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who leads with 35 percent, Stefanos Kasselakis of Syriza, and Nikos Androulakis of PASOK, who were chosen by 11 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
What is most alarming about these figures is that one half of the respondents believe that Greece’s Prime Minister who is serving his second term is not good for the job. The Kasselakis and Androulakis percentages further indicate that Greeks have lost their trust in politicians.
Further indication of the above is the most recent poll published on September 10th which shows that the percentages of almost all parties have gone down compared to the ballot for the European Parliament on June 9th.
Governing ND leads with 24.8 percent, as opposed to 28.31 in the June 9 election. Center-Left PASOK – KINAL has established itself in second place in in poll with 12.5 percent, as opposed to 12.79 percent in June. Main opposition SYRIZA recorded significant losses in relation to the European elections, with its percentage dropping to 9.2, when on June 9th, it was second with 14.92 percent of the vote.
The performance of the remaining parties on both ends of the political spectrum was similar to the three major ones. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) scored 7.4 percent (9.25 in June), Right wing Elliniki Lysi was at 6.7 percent (9.3 in June), Right wing Niki at 3.9 percent (4.37 in June), and leftist Plefsi Eleftherias was at 3.8 percent (3.4 in June).
The Greeks have expressed their discontent with politicians of all parties. All three major parties have governed in the past 15 years, but as of this moment, in the eyes of the people, New Democracy, PASOK, and Syriza have failed. Only party members and hard core voters remain loyal.
“Τhey are all the same” is a phrase that many disgruntled Greeks use when TV reporters ask who they vote for if elections were held today. The ballot box—or abstaining to vote—is the only way to express their discontent. They have plenty to complain about.
With super market prices continuously going up, a shortage of affordable houses for rent, crime rate reaching new highs, migrants filling the hospitals that are marred by a shortage of doctors, catastrophic wildfires and floods, many have reached the point of despair.
For Greeks, the summer of 2024 can be named the summer of discontent, to paraphrase Shakespeare. It is the summer of the total loss of trust in the 300 politicians sitting comfortably in Parliament, uttering big words and even bigger promises to disbelieving ears.
Fifteen years of downfall
Today, fifty years after the restoration of Democracy in the country where it was conceptualized, citizens have lost faith in the democratically elected governments of the past fifteen years. A few even reached the point of publicly reminiscing the days of the 1967-1974 military dictatorship.
All governments of the past 15 years are obligated to comply with the bailout program, which leaves little room for generous social programs or major public works. When a gleam of hope appeared in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic immediately surfaced to destroy anything that might have begun flourishing following years of harsh austerity measures.
The impact of the pandemic on Greek businesses was tremendous. According to a Grant Thornton study, 69 percent of the total turnover of Greek businesses were directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the limitation or even the interruption of operations.
As soon as the pandemic officially ended in May 2022, the war between Russia and Ukraine was raging, adding the new plight of the energy crisis that struck all of Europe, shooting electricity and natural gas bills through the roof.
In the summer of 2022, wildfires destroyed homes in the further northern suburbs of Athens, along with vast areas in other parts of Greece. The next years Greek people watched on television more wooded areas in flames. This summer the fires came to the suburbs close to the center of Athens.
The State seems incapable of tackling serious problems
The summer of 2024 was yet another summer Greek people saw thousands of hectares of forest and wooded land consumed by flames again. The government’s response has always be the same: “We will take more preventive measures.”
In Greece, wildfire prevention measures are always taken—if they are taken—after a new catastrophe. Granted, most of the fires are deliberately set by arsonists, but even in cases where the perpetrators are arrested, authorities let them go free “for lack of solid evidence” or punish them with a slap on the wrist.
A good example of the above is a Turkish national who had entered Greece as an asylum seeker and set fire on Mount Egaleo on May 25th. When arrested, he claimed he was homeless and had set the fire to keep mosquitos away when sleeping. He was placed in custody, but there is no information on what happened next. The same man was taken to custody days earlier for moving suspiciously around the Israeli Embassy. He had claimed he was looking for the nearby asylum service and had lost his way, so he was set free.
The destructive floods in Thessaly in September 2023 were another natural disaster that the government had to deal with. The most fertile, productive valleys in the country were flooded, destroying all crops and drowning dozens of thousands of livestock. It was an act of God, of course, but added another burden on the government that had to spend more than 1.5 billion euros in compensations.
Greeks are also very angry about the Greek justice system which appears to be very lenient to criminals. Burglars are arrested and they are let go, murderers get delayed trials and serve only a few years in prison, petty thieves don’t even pass the door of a police station cell before they are free to go out and steal again. The main reason is that prisons are overcrowded and there is only room for serious criminals. However, building new prisons would be an efficient way to solve the overcrowding problem.
In regards to the health system, hospital are also overcrowded and there is a shortage of doctors. Doctors in the public health system are also underpaid and many either move abroad or go to private practice. As a result, the remaining doctors are overworked and this reflects on their behavior towards the patient and most importantly to the quality of health care in some cases. Again, building new hospitals and health centers would solve the problem. Yet, no government of the past 15 years did the obvious.
Growth only for the few
While most Greeks are constantly in complaint mode about their income being disproportionate to the high cost of everything, the Mitsotakis government is continuously priding itself about economic growth figures issued by the European statistical authority (Eurostat).
The previous week, Eurostat reported that Greece had the second-largest growth rate, after Poland, at 2.3 percent in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the corresponding period in 2023. Every quarter this year, GDP rose by 1.1 percent. In the first quarter, Greece’s GDP had increased by 2.1 percent on an annual basis and by 0.8 percent every quarter.
The independent Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) reported that consumption, investments and exports had a significant impact on GDP growth. Specifically, consumption rose by 0.9 percent on an annual basis and 0.3 percent every quarter, while the increase in investments was even higher (3.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively).
Similarly, exports of goods increased by 2 percent year-on-year and by 5.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024, and exports of services by 2.8 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
However, these figures do not reflect on the pocket of the average Greek who sees his paycheck disappearing before the end of the month and “disposable income” is a thing of the past they morosely reminisce.
The same applies to tourism revenue, which increases every year but the average employee in the tourism sector does not see a respective income increase. As for the people who are not in the hospitality industry, they see no benefits from tourism, no matter how loudly each government in the past 15 years heralds the impressive rise in tourism revenues
There is growth in Greece, but it is only for the benefit of the few: The big contractors and developers, the big investors, the big international companies. Unfortunately for the average Greek, most of these are foreign.
The Greek Left self-destructs
All the above lead to the conclusion that the current administration is not able to tackle the continuously rising cost of living by stopping the insane increases on everything. For instance, one liter of extra virgin olive oil cost an average 6 euros in 2021 and now costs an average 13 euros. A small chocolate bar cost 0.35 euros in 2021, now it costs 0.59. Only staples like fruit, bread, milk, flour and sugar have seen reasonable price hikes.
As the conservative Kyriakos Mitsotakis government is losing considerable ground due to the social crisis, there is no serious opposition in parliament to check its performance, more so propose realistic measures to put an end to the social crisis.
Main opposition Syriza that represents the Greek Left—what is left of it—is bound for self-destruction. After four consecutive election losses—two parliamentary, one municipal, and one for the European Parliament—Syriza is close to becoming a minor party again.
The only leftist party that became government in Greece’s political history has failed to become a major player in parliament for long. After the departure of popular leader Alexis Tsipras, Syriza became a battleground of petty ambitions, meaningless ideological arguments, needless factions, divisive rhetoric and showed a complete lack of vision.
The out-of-nowhere appearance of Stefanos Kasselakis in August 2023 gave a temporary gleam of hope not only to leftist voters but also to people who have been tired seeing the three major Greek politician families (Karamanlis-Papandreou-Mitsotakis) alternate in government. They saw a Greek politician who was different than the others.
With a series of publicity stunts and the self-important pledge “I am the only one who can beat Mitsotakis,” Kasselakis won the Syriza presidency in just two months with a grass roots party vote.
It was then that the party was divided in several fractions, something for which the Greek Left is famous. In 1974, after the restoration of democracy in Greece, the communists were divided into four communist parties. Likewise, when Syriza was left headless after the departure of Tsipras and Kasselakis was elected, a dozen party MPs left and formed another party (Nea Aristera, New Left).
However, since his victory in the party election, the new Syriza leader was put in the “leftist microscope.” His rich man’s past, the luxurious apartment he bought in Athens’ prestigious Kolonaki area, his villa in Spetses, and the lack of the word Left in his speeches in Syriza meetings left a large number of party members doubting his true intentions and if, indeed, he is a leftist.
Kasselakis’ reaction to his doubting party members was to expunge those he could, claiming that they tarnish the party’s reputation. To the eyes of many party members, and especially to the MPs, his behavior was too autocratic. Several accused him of seeing Syriza as his property. The dissatisfaction with that Kasselakis culminated with a motion of censure on Sunday that ended his leadership. The candidates for his seat will battle it out in November. Until then, the only leftist party that ever formed government in Greece will remain headless.
A sterile opposition
Since 2015, the once powerful PASOK has been reduced to third place in parliament, orbiting around the 12 percentage points mark. Only the last two months appears second in polls, thanks to the rapid dive Syriza took during the leadership crisis.
However, the problem of the two parties in being the only opposition that can shake Mitsotakis off the premiership is that they are not convincing. Both parties are consumed in a sterile opposition where they point out the government’s failings and omissions, but fail to provide viable ideas and solutions. Instead, they lambast the ruling party and using the wooden politician’s language that lacks serious meaning.
For example phrases like “We’ll be a government for the people,” or “We’ll correct all the wrongs of previous administrations” that are often used by almost all Greek politicians fall on deaf ears because what they lack is the crucial answer to how this might be achieved. In the past fifty years, Greeks have heard the same from the Right, Center, and Left parties, and they are tired of repeatedly hearing the same shallow promises.
For the past 15 years—since the financial crisis swept Greece—the country was governed by PASOK, an all-party government, a ND-PASOK coalition, a Syriza-ANEL coalition, and New Democracy, in this exact order. The Right, Center, and Left alternately governed in these years but there were no real differences in their policies other than the party colors.
Further, one needs to keep in mind that, as a European Union member, Greece is obligated to follow all EU regulations, as do all members across the EU. Therefore, no matter what specific party is in place, it is obligated to comply with all European legislative acts.
In conclusion, abstention from the voting booth is another way for Greeks to show politicians of all colors they no longer have any faith in them. In the July 2023 national elections, 46 percent of Greeks (practically half) did not bother to vote in the belief that whoever is elected is not going to make their life any better. At this rate, the abstention percentage in the 2027 vote will likely be higher.