The possibility of a high abstention rate at the election for the European Parliament on Sunday has been a major concern for all political parties in Greece.
Opinion polls suggest that many Greek voters may prefer going to the beach instead of the ballot box. Ruling New Democracy (ND) has set the 33 percent threshold that it got in the 2019 European elections, main opposition leftist SYRIZA is aiming for the 17 percent it received in last year’s national polls, and Socialist PASOK wants to clinch second place or, alternatively, to record the biggest rise of any party.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his last TV interview on Friday, called on voters to realize that these elections are particularly important and to make the effort to vote, responding to a question on the possibility of a high abstention rate on election day this Sunday.
“I hope this does not happen and that the citizens realize that these elections are particularly important,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he understood the fatigue people feel with the repeated elections. “I want to call on citizens to participate in the elections,” he urges everyone. “Participation in this ballot box is worth it. Very important decisions will be made in Europe in the coming years. Despite the good weather and [elections fatigue], there should be participation. I would not like it to be said, on the night of the elections, that we are all losers because there was high abstention.”
Mitsotakis, whose party leads in the opinion polls, repeated that the slogan of New Democracy is “steadily, closer to Europe.”
“We are voting on whether we will have a new Recovery Fund, whether we will have a new common fund for defense, what will happen to our farmers,” he noted, saying the target for New Democracy is the percentage it got in the previous European elections. “All this has implications for what will be done in our country. But it is a national vote from which political conclusions will also be drawn.”
Kasselakis on European election
The main pre-election speech by SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Stefanos Kasselakis in Syntagma Square on Thursday night was punctuated on an all-out attack against the government of New Democracy and Mitsotakis, whom he accused of trying to destroy him.
Referring to Mitsotakis and media reports on his declared wealth, he accused the PM of purposely delaying opening the platform for this year’s returns by three months in order to embarrass him. He also charged the Premier with avoiding declaring his home, an offshore, and filing for two years.
Earlier, during a TV interview, Kasselakis spoke about his party’s proposals for increasing spending on social security by raising the taxes on oligopolies.
“There is a part of the private health sector, which should be able to be covered by public health, which will be a right. This is progressive politics. This is part of our philosophy. So is electricity. We do not agree to oligopolies in electricity. We want a 5 percent cap on profit in electricity, which doesn’t even have a fiscal footprint. So this produces great growth, because it gives people a breather. We say the same about cartels in the banks, about the excess profits,” he underlined.
He also lashed out at other left-leaning opposition parties, pointing out that “even these progressive parties, who call themselves ‘progressive’ or leftist,” attack him instead of attacking the government’s harsh neoliberal policies.
PASOK’s Androulakis
“On June 9, the Greek people will have the historic opportunity to change the political correlations, seeking a better future for Greece and Europe. We can and deserve more. Whatever the citizens may have voted in the past, today they have a number of reasons to vote for PASOK,” stated opposition PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis.
Androulakis cited three reasons why voters should support PASOK. Firstly, they should do so in order to have a credible, strong opposition to the New Democracy government. Secondly, this is so as to have a strong center-left that will be able to defeat New Democracy. Lastly, by voting for PASOK, the European socialists who fight for a fairer and more self-reliant Europe will be strengthened.
He said that if the Greek people again grant a strong mandate to Mitsotakis, then “in the next three years arrogance, corruption, inefficiency and impunity will be taken to another level.”
Androulakis noted that “there is no ceiling” and that his goal is to once again make PASOK the meeting point for every progressive citizen, every democrat.
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