By Savvas Michalaros

On one side, the triumph of the winner, on the other, the turmoil after the shock of the heavy defeat… The May 21 elections they left a “heavy” mark on the political scene of the country, with New Democracy definitively “erasing” any possibility of a government of cooperation and SYRIZA being in a state of shock, which even touches the future of the party.

What are the elements that emerged in Sunday’s elections:

1) The choice of New Democracy to invest in stability, in the 4-year project, in the development of the economy and in the program for the future, proved to be wise. More than ten years after the bankruptcy of the country, the average Greek suffered everything, but managed, through extremely adverse conditions, to balance, adapt his life to the new conditions and get back on his feet. Greece, in 2023, does not present an image of a broken country, nor is the Greek desperate and without any perspective and hope for the future. THE SYRIZA presented a dramatic situation, which was not real. The difference between the given difficulties of everyday life, to the “broken country”, is huge.

The Greek, in this period, is looking for stability, calmness, a smooth path towards the future. New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis listened to the “wants” of the Greek people, adjusted their logic and their program on this basis and succeeded not only in maintaining their percentages in relation to the 2019 elections, but also in increasing them. , tearing down historical “castles” such as Crete, Piraeus and Achaia and painting the whole country blue, with the exception of Rhodope.

2) SYRIZA bet on change, on “revolution”, on “upheaval”. Three words that, based on the above, are currently frightening the Greek. The average Greek citizen is tired, he has suffered, he has groaned from the difficulties. The stabilization of a situation, even if difficult for the majority, was the goal for the next 4 years. SYRIZA chose to act as an opposition party, without a government narrative and based on a theory that did not exist in reality.

At the same time he received two big blows from the same person: George Katrougalos… The Katrougalou law deeply hurt the pensioners, as it implemented the exact opposite of the promises made in the 2019 SYRIZA campaign speech. No one in SYRIZA took care to give adequate explanations to the pensioners, no one took care to cover the “deficit” that was caused . New Democracy gave pensioners a raise after 12 years and covered a percentage of the lost income, while showing a program to fully cover the personal difference.

Katrougalou’s second blow came two days before election day, with his statements on the insurance contributions of freelancers. The experienced constitutionalist gave the “pass” to New Democracy to talk – and rightly so – about SYRIZA’s “hidden agenda”, about a “hidden plan”, which will be implemented after the elections, due to the “non-costed program”.

The double “hit of Katrougalos” and the distance of SYRIZA from the “want” of the majority, can justify the destruction – because that is what it is about – of the party of Koumoundourou and personally Alexis Tsipras, on Sunday, May 21. The loss of 11.5% points compared to the percentages of 2019, no matter how one tries to justify it, comes to the one and only objective conclusion: In SYRIZA, crucial mistakes were made.

The next day and the elections of June 25

What’s next? It was certain that no government would emerge from the May 21 elections. There may have been many scenarios, but in essence, with what had been said, it was impossible, without a “butt flip”, to form a government on May 22. Nevertheless, with the 21 points difference of New Democracy and almost 41%, the autonomous government lost five seats and due to simple proportionality.

So the next day was more or less… predetermined. THE Kyriakos Mitsotakis he duly received the investigative order from the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and a few hours later, by phone, he returned it. New Democracy has no reason to try to come to an understanding, especially with the terms of PASOK and Nikos Androulakis. The prime minister therefore informed the party leaders that he would not use the exploratory, proposed holding the next election for June 25 (one week earlier than the date originally proposed) and returned it to the Presidency.

Tomorrow morning at 11, the exploratory report will be received by the president of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, who will also be forced to return it, since on the one hand the percentages for the formation of a government are not coming out and on the other hand, he is a prisoner of his statement that would attempt a coalition government, only if SYRIZA came first in the elections. What’s more, SYRIZA ended up second with almost 21 points difference from the first New Democracy.

The next step is the investigation in PASOK. The process is formal and the fact is that the country is going to a second election, probably on June 25.