Androulakis sends clear message to critics: Party elections are over

The confrontation within PASOK has escalated to another level, with many pointing to party president Nikos Androulakis himself as responsible. This stems from the PASOK president’s address to Political Secretariat members of KOES, where he wanted to send a clear message to his critics, characteristically stating that “some people need to understand that the internal party elections are over. We don’t have internal party elections ahead of us,” while asking everyone to show respect both to the party organs and to the congress proceedings. These remarks became public, which didn’t seem to please certain individuals, who consequently attempted to attribute the creation of internal divisions to Nikos Androulakis himself.

Nikos Androulakis targeted Harris Doukas, stating among other things that “respect for the session doesn’t mean that before the session, all media outlets have the texts of your announcements. This is disrespect to the organs.” This statement is interpreted as a “dig” at the fact that in the previous Political Secretariat session, the Athens mayor had leaked parts of his statement to the media. Meanwhile, the PASOK president also addressed what has become public regarding the “algorithm,” an issue raised by figures from the internal opposition.

“What are you implying? That I’m doing something to favor Heraklion?” he said characteristically, emphasizing that Heraklion has chronically had more congress delegates than Athens A’ district and is now losing delegates compared to the previous congress. “The distribution I propose based on votes is not an algorithm. It’s the proportion by which society supported PASOK. There is no algorithm, and whoever brought it into public discourse is not helping the movement,” he stated characteristically, adding that it represents the will of the Greek people, as it reflects how they voted in the elections. He also proposed that delegate election through this method be included in the party’s constitution, so that “some people understand that delegate distribution from now on will be based on the Greek people’s verdict.”

For his part, Harris Doukas reportedly spoke about an algorithm that ignores the party’s membership registry and about how he himself creates internal division through his statements. The same sources report that he told Nikos Androulakis that it’s impossible to tell them there are no membership registries. It’s worth noting that Nikos Androulakis’s associates categorically denied that such statements were ever made to the PASOK president, describing them as non-existent dialogues.

Pavlos Geroulanos, on the other hand, supported that Nikos Androulakis did well to position himself this way in the session, however, the fact that this content circulated publicly will give the impression that there’s a new clash within the Movement. He avoided publicizing dialogues that took place behind closed doors, limiting himself to the content of the discussion. He spoke about a democratic congress, electronic registry, transparent procedures (which he mentions in all his interviews) and a Constitutional Review that should include proposals based on “today.” Regarding the Panagopoulos scandal, he emphasized that the suspension of his party membership was appropriate, noting meaningfully that whatever decision they make on this matter should be upheld for everything that follows.

Anna Diamantopoulou spoke about a very good political discussion that took place after a long time, insisting they need strategy for where they’re going as a party based on the common ground they want to address, something to be discussed in the next Political Secretariat session next week. PASOK’s Political Planning coordinator also spoke about the need to change the political system, possibly the electoral system, and to have transparency everywhere, in all organizations and at all administrative levels. Ahead of the congress, she too requested an electronic registry while supporting electronic referendums.

Nadia Giannakopoulou requested changing the decision regarding delegate distribution, while spokesperson Kostas Tsoukalas defended expansion. Finally, Michalis Katrinis requested opening dialogue with progressive parties.

Meanwhile, the clash within PASKE has reached its peak against the backdrop of elections taking place today and tomorrow at the Athens Labor Center. Yannis Panagopoulos not only refuses to resign from GSEE leadership, wanting to lead it to another congress as elected president, but is also running his own ticket in the process taking place today and tomorrow Sunday. Yannis Bouleros, a PASOK CPE member, is running with his own independent ticket called “Unifying Ticket,” joined by many PASKE trade unionists, showing that the underlying confrontation will exceed all limits.

It should be noted that the issue arising with Yannis Panagopoulos was discussed yesterday Friday in PASOK’s KOES Political Secretariat, and after the session ended, the body concluded that beyond suspending his party membership, the GSEE president owes it to the defense of trade union movement prestige and credibility to facilitate matters by abandoning his ambitions to lead the Confederation.

Tomorrow Sunday, the KOES session will take place at a central Athens hotel. Mobilization from PASOK’s relevant sector is significant, while many wonder whether Nikos Androulakis will repeat what he said in yesterday’s session (regarding internal divisions) or choose not to mention it since what was said was said in a closed session.