Greek Centre-Left

The election of Nikos Androulakis as party leader was the motive force that brought a younger generation to the forefront.

The new KINAL party leader, his close associates, and the rest of the party’s cadres now have the political capital of the mass participation of members and friends of the party in the leadership election..

Personal ambitions, disputes, and bitterness have no place in a party that seeks renewal in order to once again become a pillar in a political arena with two predominant parties.

Over 200,000 people voted – a much higher number than the second round in 2017, when the late Fofi Gennimata was elected - and precincts closed at 7:30pm, after a 30-minute extension

This past week was not the best for the Greek centre-left, and that is due mainly to the stance of certain losers in the first round of the Movement for Change [KINAL] party’s leadership election.

The largest participation was of voters born between1951-1960. These are people who were in their 20s and 30s in the era when Andreas Papandreou’s Allagi (Change) became a mantra and are now 61-70 years old.

The number of people who turned out demonstrated that among voters in the centre and centre-left of the political spectrum there is a strong desire for a progressive party that can play a leading role.

In general terms, one might say that the derby of the debate was played in centre-field. The participants did not opt for an aggressive game plan, but instead took care not to lose points.

Now, KINAL is nearly or even over ten percent in all opinion polls, even as the two largest parties – New Democracy and SYRIZA - have declined somewhat in surveys.

The beginning of the race demonstrated that Greek Social Democracy can still attract a broader political audience, that has turned its attention to the inner workings of the party.

The survey shows that that the party’s parliamentary representative, Andreas Loverdos, has a 3.6 percentage point lead over George Papandreou in the general pool of respondents.

Fofi Gennimata carved out her independent own path in politics, even though she was the daughter of Pasok founding member Yorgos Gennimatas, one of the most distinguished and beloved politicians in post-dictatorship Greece, whose legacy includes the creation of the Greece’s National Health System.

Fofi Gennimata adorned the Greek political terrain in an era of political fluidity that was difficult for our country. In a period of dwindling respect for politicians and in which institutions were rocked, she remained a constant. She was the people's Fofi.

MP Andreas Loverdos, who has said that if elected he will rename the party Pasok, had the most combative and audacious reaction to Papandreou’s candidacy, and effectively depicted himself as the only candidate that, following in Andreas Papandreou’s footsteps, can make the party great again.

In the party, scenarios that Papandreou may make a bid for the KINAL leadership caused a commotion which grew even more intense when one of Papandreou’s oldest and most trusted associates, Katerina Batzeli, said that it is possible that he may announce his candidacy even today.

Movement for Change leader Fofi Gennimata’s new health problems have shocked and emotionally moved all of Greece, and that is reflected in an unprecedented deluge of support and well wishes.

Formations and movements, personalities and Pasok-rooted organisations to this day have exhausted their limits with a single-digit electoral result. If that continues the revamping of the party will be a Midsummer Night’s Dream.

What underlies SYRIZA's failed efforts to forg e a centre-left front is the aim of co-opting the centre-left, Pasok-based Movement for Change (KINAL).

Kaminis is a centre-left politician who started out as the Greel Ombudsman and first gained election as Mayor of Athens in 2004 with Pasok backing and was re-elected in 2009.

Now the electoral victory of the socialists in Spain and the trouncing of the right-wing People’s Party are being exploited ahead of the upcoming electoral races in Greece.

'The worst thing [SYRIZA has done] is the botched handling of the economy in 2015, and that led to the signing of the third bailout memorandum. The result was the decimation of the middle class.'

No distinguished member of the centre-left has responded positively to SYRIZA’s cunning invitation, which has fallen by the wayside.

One cannot but agree that the manner in which certaing Pasok cadres moved to SYRIZA creates the impression that the PM is in panic .

sipras believes that in tackling the constitutional amendments he can burnish his progressive image.