Issue No. 13367

 

TWO MONTHS after New Democracy was decimated in the general elections and with the economy mired in a major fiscal crisis, Greece’s new main opposition leader, Antonis Samaras, faces a dual and daunting task. 

 

On the one hand, he must restore the unity of a battered party that the leadership contest divided into two bitterly opposed camps. On the other, he must quickly outline his opposition’s stand on pressing economic issues, including the huge budget deficit, national debt and pension reform. 

 

From his campaign, Samaras already signalled that he will support tough austerity measures, which the government will be required by the EU to follow over the next three years. 

 

But the new ND leader already denounced the government’s planned “tax foray” in his first interview with a private TV station on November 30. He insisted that new taxes will be disastrous for small and medium-sized businesses. That appeared to imply that he would prefer deeper state budget cuts. 

 

Samaras’ position on pension reform remains unclear, but his support for liberal fiscal responsibility presages support for unpopular structural changes supported by Brussels. 

 

 

Prime Minister George Papandreou on November 30 had a cordial meeting with Samaras, a former classmate at Amherst College in the early 1970s. Samaras said he would support policies with which ND concurs but will clash strongly with the government when required. 

 

That 770,000 registered ND members voted suggested the party base is eager to regroup after the humiliating defeat in October. That it chose the political outsider lent credence to Samaras’ claim that his candidacy represented the antidote to nepotism and dominance by a few families - notably the Karamanlises, Papandreous and Mitsotakises - in Greek politics for the past half-century. 

 

In the most spectacular comeback in recent Greek politics, Samaras trounced leadership rival Dora Bakoyannis, garnering 50.2 percent of the vote to Bakoyannis’ 39.5 percent, while Panayiotis Psomiadis, with 10 percent, was a distant third. 

 

Bakoyannis was for years considered former prime minister Kostas Karamanlis’ undisputable successor. That her father, former premier Konstantinos Mitsotakis, had for years blocked Samaras’ return to ND after his Political Spring splinter party folded, likely made the victory all the more delicious. 

 

Samaras met on December 1 with Bakoyannis, who said she will “remain a soldier in the party”. He reportedly plans to work with some of her more capable supporters, such as former development minister Kostis Hatzidakis. 

 

 

In his victory speech, the new conservative leader said he would wipe away all the campaign attacks against him “with a sponge”. But he also declared that neither he nor the party base will tolerate any move to undermine his authority. 

 

The huge turnout stunned even the most optimistic in ND, and seemed to suggest that supporters were intent upon taking the party into their own hands. It also renders any intra-party challenges to Samaras’ authority inconceivable, at least in the foreseeable future. 

 

In Athens’ huge second electoral district, Samaras soundly defeated Bakoyannis, even though almost all ND MPs supported the former foreign minister. 

 

ND voters waited an average of two hours to cast their ballots, as the online voting system was frequently out of service at many polling stations around the country. Many voters had to be registered by hand, with their names entered online after they had voted. 

 

Psomiadis charged that party “thugs” had intimidated ND members into not voting for him. With his 10 percent, he hopes to represent a “third current” in the party. 

 

Samaras said he will hold a party convention in a few months to craft ND’s new political direction and strategy. Preconvention assemblies will be held around the country. 

 

It is already clear that the new ND leader has reserved a top role for former health minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, who backed out of the leadership race to side with Samaras. 

 

The moderate Avramopoulos’ decision to endorse Samaras played a pivotal role in establishing the new leader’s momentum, which started building at the party convention.

 

Other key supporters, such as parliamentary representative Panos Panayiotopoulos, former tourism minister Kostas Markopoulos and MPs Kostas Gioulekas and Maximos Harakopoulos, are also expected to play a central role in the party. 

 

 

ATHENS NEWS 08/03/2010, page: 4