With a toxic climate on the way to the polls

By Penelope Galliou

The polls may be – barring the unexpected – months awaythe political climate that is taking shape is, however, strongly reminiscent of a pre-election period which unfortunately has escaped from the usual acute political climate and has gone to extremes with toxic characteristics that poison not only the political confrontation but the entire society.

The fact that the hideous and heinous crime of raping a twelve-year-old girlis a “field” of confrontation between the government and official opposition, shows that the political debate has entered a dangerous rut, with unknown consequences and a dubious political result, since the goal is to challenge the political opponent and attract voters.

However, a horrific crime against a child cannot become the object of political exploitation, nor can ideologies, people and policies be sacked on the altar of political smearing. It is indicative that ND and SYRIZA were quick to accuse each other of the crime of pedophile of the 53-year-old from Colonos while trying to characterize an entire party, ND, as being involved in cases of rape and pedophile, with an extreme and false tweet by the SYRIZA MP Harry Mamoulakis because the defendant was an executive of the ND and they accused SYRIZA of supporting the rapists because it did not vote (which is ultimately not the case) for the life sentence for such cases.

The post of the SYRIZA member of parliament that reproduced the offensive hashtag “#нд_паидерастес” caused the immediate announcement of Piraeus in which it asked the Alexis Tsipras the removal of the MP, otherwise, as they said, “he will prove once again that his party is behind the mud campaign and that vulgarity, wretchedness and political degradation are, unfortunately, synonymous with SYRIZA!”. Reaction, which together with the discomfort it caused within SYRIZA, caused – according to information – the mediation of the secretary of K.O. of SYRIZA Olgas Gerovasilis inviting him to proceed with a corrective statement. Motion made by Mr. Mamoulakis, arguing that it was not his: “the fact that the 53-year-old was a prominent member of the ND. does not in any way justify the use of an objectionable hashtag. It was a mistake made by a partner’s sheer blindness in the context of posting a satirical video on TikTok,” he justified.

A similar incident was also witnessed by the MPs present at the Plenary Session of the Parliament where – according to testimonies – Anna Vagena from the SYRIZA wing chose to make a vulgar attack on the ND leader Maximos Harakopoulos, who approached him and allegedly asked him how he felt belongs to “the party of pedophiles”. An attack that surprised Mr. Harakopoulos who wondered: “what are you saying? Shame”. The continuation unfolded in the mountainous seats of the Plenary while a little later, Olga Gerovasili, who watched the scene, privately remarked to Mrs. Vagena that these kinds of attacks must stop, as they in no way express the official opposition party, as a result of which the MP of Larissa finally apologized to her fellow citizen Maxim Charakopoulos.

George Tsipras’ statement in a television interview that “when we find many pedophiles in a party, I am generally not talking about the New Democracy, probably the morality of this party has a problem” also caused a sensation, while in generalizations without evidence, Mr. Christos Spirtzis accusing the government of a delay in releasing the details of the 213 alleged rapists is tantamount to a cover-up. A charge that the government representative commented on as “disgusting” refusing to continue the conversation further. Nasos Iliopoulos, however, returned the arrows, arguing that “it is disgraceful for your executives and ministers to peddle vulgar lies that SYRIZA allegedly turned rape into a misdemeanor”.

The blood also ignited on a television set between him Adonis Georgiadis and Christos Spirtzis, who likened the case of the 53-year-old rapist to the Lignadis case, speaking of a cover-up and added: “Ten identified child rapists, why haven’t they been arrested, why haven’t their photos been made public, why has the police delayed sending them and making them public the prosecutor”.

Shots that knocked the Minister of Development out of his mind, shouting against the SYRIZA MP that he is “a slanderer, a miserable slanderer, a stinker, a triathlete, because what you are doing is a triathlete” and added “The arch-liar knows that Minister Theodorikakos cannot get the names out of the publicity and he comes out to make this criticism to get votes for a child and he is not ashamed and you are also a father and you are not ashamed, you wretch, you stinker”.

Oil on the fire of the toxic confrontation was again thrown by Panagiotis Kouroumpliswho despite returning to SYRIZA after being deleted for the extreme accusations against those who managed the pandemic by calling them “murderers”, insisted again on the accusation and even declared that he was “proud” of his position, in December 2021. “Come back” which led the ND to again request the deletion of Mr. Kourouplis, otherwise as he commented it will be proven that “his initial deletion was fake, hypocritical and pretentious”.

The political confrontation is expected to expand and culminate today in the Parliament between him Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Alexis Tsiprasduring the discussion of the topical question submitted by the leader of the official opposition to the prime minister on the subject of the wave of appreciations in the market.​

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