The need for immediate recovery of New Democracy’s polling numbers and improvement of qualitative characteristics in measurements immediately after the holidays has captured the attention of the Maximos Mansion, against the backdrop of a new decline recorded in the past week, following the farmers’ mobilizations.
New Democracy: The decline in percentages and aftermath of farmers’ mobilizations
Given that, although we are not in an election year, every passing day is crucial in shaping the environment within which the country will be led to the polls, everyone in the prime ministerial headquarters believes that the pattern of decline during every difficult moment and rise following good news from Kyriakos Mitsotakis for daily life can no longer continue, as it essentially constitutes a permanent balance on a tightrope.
“The lack of an alternative governance proposal can no longer be a safety cushion, as no one can know what will happen, what picture will emerge in an unexpected development, while even ND’s lead cannot be accompanied by uncertainty on the front of post-electoral political reality, which would be catastrophic,” note the prime minister’s interlocutors.
Citizens’ fatigue and changing attitudes toward early elections
The most indicative element of recent measurements is the absolute reversal recorded regarding citizens’ dispositions about whether the government should complete the four-year term or not. Last year at this time, almost 70% had opposed early recourse to popular verdict, and now in favor of this specific prospect, according to GPO’s recent survey for Mega, stands 52%. This is, if nothing else, a clear indication that this state of fluidity has tired citizens, who (even those who either intend to vote for the governing party or are ambivalent and in any case swear by maintaining normalcy) clearly believe that a pressure release valve should emerge and a settling of political accounts in some way.
Moving in the same direction is the finding regarding Greece’s course, where negative answers correspond to the highest relative percentage, while conversely, positive ones to the lowest. The depiction of this climate leads some to conclude that the government faces the danger, despite the lack of a formidable opponent, of experiencing what typically happened almost in pre-memorandum eras: being unable to reverse the data against it, no matter how many benefits it announces.
Mitsotakis’ superiority in suitability and the stability bet
Given however that Kyriakos Mitsotakis continues to emphatically excel over other political leaders in terms of suitability, and the universally acknowledged parameter that whatever ND loses, no other current or future party leader can collect, the big bet for Maximos is none other than the constant reminder that, despite the problems, “blue” governance is the only path for producing effective work, and indeed under conditions of stability.
Tsipras as a factor of anti-rallying in the Center, Konstantopoulou and PASOK
It is no coincidence that the basic demand in recent weeks is the project of rallying at the level of executive dynamics and base, with specific initiatives from the Maximos Mansion. Within the government leadership there is the conviction that Tsipras’ total return is already creating anti-rallying tendencies in the Center and Center-right, which is why he is largely chosen as an opponent by the prime minister, while Zoe Konstantopoulou has also returned to the same frame, in order to complete the new version regarding the “stability-populism” dipole that the government camp is trying to project. This strategy will continue as long as PASOK is pressured by the Symplegades of Mitsotakis on one side, and the rest on the other, unable to make its mark.
The unpredictable factor of Karystianou
A more difficult puzzle is, from a rhetorical perspective, the case of Maria Karystianou, although in the close Mitsotakis core they believe that, despite the different characteristics of her possible venture, until further notice on one hand it will further stir up the opposition reservoir and on the other hand the reactions of the remaining relatives of the Tempe victims may constitute a decisive factor for the entity’s dynamics.
Published in Parapolitika
