From the moment the change of the electoral law is qualified, the conflict with the opposition parties in the Parliament is expected to be fierce.
By Antonis Anzoletou
The scenarios for change of the electoral law from the government. They keep from Maximos cards closed them and insist that the majority is proceeding to the elections without differences, however, one by one the government officials are constantly leaving open the window to have some intervention. Will announcements be made by the prime minister next Sunday at the TIF during the press conference? From Herodos Attikou, they are extremely frugal, although the information indicates that there are quite a few blue-collar executives who suggest the abolition of the graduated bonus that raises the bar of self-reliance.
THE Giannis Oikonomou when informing the political editors he stated on the matter: “The facts are known. From then on, our party’s constant position is that the electoral law should clearly reflect the electoral correlations and lead to strong and stable governments, to governments that can quickly take important, essential courageous decisions and vice versa that the electoral law should be such so as to prevent both anarchy and the formation of weak governments.” The government representative in another question also left open the window for interventions, stressing how “the government is proceeding for elections at the end of the four years with the existing institutional framework. Beyond that, there are issues that one must consider and give them the due importance they should give them. Nothing has changed nor do we have anything more to say at the moment in this direction.”
In the event that it is decided to change the electoral system, one of the scenarios that have been released is the reinstatement of the “Pavlopoulos Law” which was voted in 2008 and provides for a bonus of 50 seats to the first party regardless of percentage. With the new electoral system that the ND voted for in January 2020 – and will be effective from the next election – if the first party receives 25% of the valid ballots, then it gets a bonus of 20 seats. The remaining 280 seats are distributed proportionally between the entitled seats of the parties. From 25% onwards, for every 0.5% the first party gets an extra bonus of one seat, while the maximum of 50 seats gets it if its percentage is at 40%. The thought, reportedly, is to reduce the percentage required for each additional seat from 0.5% to 0.4% or even 0.3%. In both scenarios the percentage for self-reliance drops to 36%, while with the current system if the percentage of parties outside Parliament reaches 8% (as in the 2019 elections) the majority in Parliament requires at least 38%.
In this environment the George Gerapetritis speaking to ANT1 he stated that “this is the electoral law and we will proceed with it, but at the moment it cannot escape our attention that a climate is forming that undermines the possibility of collaborations, not with the government’s responsibility”. However, the opposition parties do not see this possibility positively. Sources of SYRIZA they state that Mr. Mitsotakis “he is preparing to become the first prime minister in the history of the country, who will change the electoral law for the second time before the one he has already voted for is even implemented. This is unprecedented institutional adventurism that no other prime minister has dared in the past.” From Koumoundourou they point out that the electoral defeat of the ND is a given with whatever electoral system the next elections are held and they talk about a victory from the simple proportional ballot box. As estimated by the official opposition, after the surveillance case there is no longer any room for cooperation between the blue faction and PASOK. They add that the only case for the two parties to repeat the alliance of the 2012-2015 period is for Kyriakos Mitsotakis to cease to be the leader of the blue faction.
It is recalled that the possibility of changing the electoral law has been brought to the fore by ND officials. THE Maximos Charakopoulosthe Dora Bakoyannis, and Theodoros Karaoglou were also publicly placed on the subject. There is concern on the part of the prime minister, as his movements so far are strictly institutional, however the issue of stability and the need for a strong and self-sufficient government seems to have entered Maximos’ scales. From the moment the change of the electoral law is qualified, the conflict with the opposition parties in the Parliament is expected to be fierce. Apart from SYRIZA, PASOK, KKE, Hellenic Solution and MERA25 made it clear in their announcements that they are against such a move.
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