The second Sunday of the PASOK elections named Nikos Androulakis the clear winner with around 60% against Haris Doukas who went to 40%.
A total of 212,269 members and friends of PASOK voted, which means that participation compared to the first round, where 303,223 voted, was reduced by 28.5%. PASOK voters chose the president who guarantees stability and autonomous direction even in a low electoral runoff, based on a leap towards the center-left with an unknown outcome, represented by Haris Doukas. The power of the mechanism prevailed.
Haris Doukas failed to create momentum for change and current affairs in society. Nikos Androulakis avoided a debate that could have had negative consequences for him. It is interesting that Nikos Androulakis won the majority of voters from the other candidates in the first round. He won a significant percentage of voters from Anna Diamantopoulos and Michalis Katrinis and less from Pavlos Geroulanos.
Haris Doukas only won over Nadias Giannakopoulos’ voters, who were very few.
Win in every district
In the second round, Nikos Androulakis won all the regions, but also the voters of Lekanopedi and the Municipality of Athens, which he had lost on the first Sunday. In urban areas, however, in the northern and southern suburbs, where Pavlos Geroulanos and Anna Diamantopoulou had great power on the first Sunday, the percentage of voters who did not go to the polls is notable. From a broader perspective, the 70% who on the first Sunday sent the message that they did not want Nikos Androulakis, were fragmented and mainly showed that they did not prefer Haris Doukas either.
A significant percentage of voters abstained, indicating that if their own president is not in power, they do not care. One assessment that can be deduced from this is that the various clandestine tendencies of PASOK – Papandreian, Semitic, the old PASOK, modernizers, etc. – are always present and influence not only the party, but also political behavior in national elections.
The Big Picture
Unlike SYRIZA, PASOK won the bet of unity and civilized confrontation, as well as the bet of participation – although mainly in the first round. The general picture, however, is that under Nikos Androulakis, PASOK remained at low percentages and was unable to take advantage of the dissolution of SYRIZA and the withdrawal of ND.
Even in the European elections, a third party got just over 12%. Its small rise is due more to the disintegration of SYRIZA and less to the positive outlook of Nikos Androulakis. The question that easily arises is why should he succeed now where he failed under favorable conditions in the first phase of his presidency? It is clear that PASOK is already the second party according to opinion polls, it will gain primacy in the wider space of the center-left and will possibly also win over the official opposition in Parliament, if, as everything shows, there is another split in SYRIZA. . place.
The landscape in the Center Left
Nikos Androulakis guaranteed a clear horizon until national elections, whenever they take place. However, at the same time as it clarified the panorama on the center-left, PASOK gives the impression of being a small and medium-sized party, while the big bet is to beat ND. by Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Nikos Androulakis clearly showed his intentions regarding PASOK’s autonomous course and bilateral expansion. However, to make PASOK great again, it needs a different narrative that it has so far failed to support.
A victory over ND presupposes cooperation, in any case political and parliamentary and possibly electoral, with SYRIZA and the other bodies of the broader center-left. The only victories in the Local Government elections resulted from PASOK’s partnership with SYRIZA. If PASOK insists on an autonomous course, developments on the center-left will overtake it.
On the other hand, there are forces within PASOK, which registered on the first Sunday, and which always insist on a center-right modernizing course. However, Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Nikos Androulakis, congratulated him and suggested they meet. Stefanos Kasselakis, who no longer has the anointing of the SYRIZA candidate, also congratulated him. PASOK’s positioning on the political spectrum will be influenced by facts and developments in ND. and in the far-right space beyond that.