“How do you talk about institutional deviations from our government, when two of your executives are accused in the supreme special court”, said the Minister of the Interior, addressing SYRIZA
The bill of the Ministry of the Interior on “European Citizens’ Initiative” which includes provisions for the electoral process for residents abroad, self-government and the establishment of April 6 as a day of commemoration of Thracian Hellenism.
It was also passed, after a roll call requested by the Movement for Change, article 44 which regulates the procedure for the introduction of issues by the opposition factions in the municipal councils, off the agenda. Out of 298 voters, 157 deputies (ND) voted “yes”, 131 (SYRIZA, Movement for Change and KKE) voted “no”, while 10 (Hellenic Solution) declared “present”.
In closing the discussion, the Minister of Interior M. Voridis he referred to the rhetoric about early elections and the official opposition’s claim that the government is on the run. How do you say something like that when there is no poll in recent years that does not show a difference of 8-10%? How do you talk about institutional deviations from our government, when two of your officials are accused in the highest special court and your only defense is that they are not accused of all the offenses but of some? asked Mr. Voridis, noting at the same time, that the ND underwent control of its actions in two commissions of inquiry, from which “nothing came of it”.
Regarding the possibility of early elections, Mr. Voridis referred, on the one hand, to the relevant statements of the prime minister, on the other hand, he noted that there are electoral issues on which “we have time to consult”. As an example, he gave provisions of the proposed bill, which concern foreign residents (special foreign lists, sending ballots to diplomatic authorities, revision of electoral lists of non-residents). “Because I heard reservations [..] and in order to consult further with the parties, I withdraw the relevant articles 11, 13 and 19 for the time being. And to send a message, that we have a lot of time ahead of us, and therefore we have comfort as well we are not planning elections…”
In order for the prime minister not to call early elections, he knows that things are very bad, SYRIZA’s parliamentary representative Yannis Ragousis said earlier in his intervention. “A prime minister holds early elections when he knows he will win them. In order not to hold them in the fall, Mr. Mitsotakis, who started to hold them, organized himself to hold them, […] he knows very well that for him things are very bad in society”. He even noted that “they will get even worse in the next period, to the point that if we say that the elections in the autumn could be a derby between ND and SYRIZA-PS, it is certain that the elections at the end of the four years will be a very big defeat for Mr. Mitsotakis and the New Democracy”.
The opinion that anarchy should not prevail in the municipal councils was expressed by the parliamentary representative of the Hellenic Solution, K. Chitas, describing as correct the arrangement for submitting the proposals of the opposition two days before the meeting. He asked, however, “that the president of the municipal council be committed to bring them to the meeting, and not through a vote.”
We operate institutionally, noted the ND parliamentary representative, Chr. Boukoros referring to the Prime Minister’s statement about elections at the end of the four years: We are focused on the goal and the result. We are not casual tacticians. Our strategic choice is to get the country out of the crisis and deal with all the crises the international situation creates. We continue, therefore, even more firmly, even more decisively and at the end of the four years we will be judged by the Greek people, he said characteristically.
RES-EMP
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