“The next elections are very crucial for the country and will judge the government. They will not judge the official opposition,” the Minister of State, Giorgos Gerapetritis, insists in an accusatory manner, and declares ahead of the June 25 election that no vote should be to be lost as “In the next elections we are voting for a prime minister, but we are also voting for how strong the mandate will be”.

At the same time, Alexis Tsipras, leaving the Presidential Palace, called it an “insult” to the electorate, and emphasized: “In all this reasoning, which is developed by Mr. Tsipras that there should be counterweights against a government of arbitrariness, I answer that when the people speak we must all sit respectfully. When he says we must put the brakes on an arbitrary government, that is a serious insult to the electorate itself.” Also, as to whether there is a risk that the government will behave arrogantly, having received such a high percentage, the Minister of State puts forward three reasons why such a possibility is excluded. It states specifically that: First: It is not the first time that a government has a percentage of over 40%. Second: Regardless of the percentage of the official opposition, whether it has 20% or 30%, what is judged is its parliamentary act and programmatic positions, so the responsible opposition and Third: This government has no examples of poetry. “The tone is set by the prime minister, who has spoken in all tones about contemplation and humility. The main driver of this government is the very hard work, which it has to demonstrate, for the first time in Greece, the recognition of mistakes and the effort to correct these mistakes,” he says.

In an interview on the main news bulletin of ERT, Mr. Gerapetritis, rejecting the claims made in the last 24 hours that the next polls will decide who will be the official opposition, spoke of a very strong stake, in which we find ourselves this moment and it is none other than the country having a strong government the next day, which “with a strong government of Turkey opposite, will show reflexes and make decisions and will not have to pick up the phone to get the Europeans”.

To show the importance of what was at stake the next day for the country to have a self-sufficient strong government, he explained that in the mechanics of the electoral law it is not the difference between the first and second party that matters, but the percentage that the first party gets, so the distribution of seats in relation to self-sufficiency, will be done by the percentage received by the first party, and therefore every vote that does not go to the first party, essentially deprives it of seats.

“Right now we are facing a very strong stake. I feel that the facts of the first ballot have not changed at all, because all the reservations expressed by the opposition are still there. I remember that until yesterday SYRIZA was talking about a progressive government , which was rejected by the Greek people and KINAL-PASOK was talking about a rather foggy situation with an unknown prime minister and with objection to key sections, which we are pursuing, with a policy, which was at least ambiguous. Here we have a clear mandate to go in big cracks” he said characteristically.

On the question of what might endanger the self-reliance of the ND, in view of the upcoming ballot, the Minister of State observed that there is no “risk” in the sense that there is absolutely no deposit from the first ballot. “We start with an empty ballot box. It will be a very difficult contest. Every vote counts. What counts is that the correlations of political forces force us to have a high percentage. It is not the next ballots that will judge the official opposition. The next elections , are very critical for the country and will judge the government. No vote should go to waste. In the next elections we are voting for a prime minister, but we are also voting for how strong the mandate will be,” he said.

Regarding the result of the May 21 elections, and responding to the extent to which the ND’s percentage was a surprise, he noted that he did expect the ruling party that “it would have an important victory and that the people would appreciate the hard work that was done and what he has accomplished with his many mistakes and omissions”, however, he did not expect the extent of this victory. “It is a very important difference which creates conditions for a mandate of self-reliance from the electorate and I hope that this will be confirmed at the ballot box on June 25,” he noted. Highlighting the need to gain self-reliance, Mr. Gerapetritis recalled that throughout the election campaign the ND was very clear and consistent in what it said “that it believes in a strong government” and underlined that Greece is not a country that surrounded by carefree people, it is a country that has high stakes and many risks and for this reason, he pointed out the need especially today “when we will have in front of us in Turkey a very strong government, with the composition we all know” becomes realized how important it is to have a strong government with quick reflexes that makes decisions and does not have to call the Europeans”.

As to whether it matters which party will be the official oppositionMr. Gerapetritis replied that for ND it is completely indifferent to who will be the opposition, “the only thing that matters is that there is a responsible opposition” and pointed out that the Greek people showed a very high level of maturity by rejecting manifestos which were divisive and intolerant.

“There is a strong mandate for ruptures and radical cuts. The Greek people attribute a high percentage to the first party and attribute it based on the evaluation of their government tenure and tell us to move forward and even with faster steps, to limit mistakes , to strengthen self-criticism, to make ruptures so that we can survive. KINAL, which claims to be the official opposition, against the radical cuts we sought was not always coordinated,” he also said.

Asked if it is the same a toxic opposition – as the ND characterized SYRIZA – and an opposition that simply disagrees with some of its programmatic positions, the Minister of State repeated that the ND wants a responsible opposition, something “that will be judged on the street”. “But what must be judged first is the government. And in order to have a responsible government that will defend our national interests and that will be able to stand in all areas, implementing a realistic program, every vote must go in the SW” he repeated.

Finally, as to whether he believes that parties other than those that the result of the first ballot shows will enter the Parliament, Mr. Gerapetritis, after explaining that the electoral law, depends on self-sufficiency, first of all on the percentage of the first party, i.e. how high will the first party go and secondly, what is the overall cumulative percentage of parties that stay below 3% and are out of Parliament, he noted that at the moment, there are at least two parties that are out of Parliament. He went on to say “So there is a risk that parties will enter the Parliament, that we will have a seven-party Parliament, which means that there will be a very high percentage of self-reliance. Regardless of whether that happens, what is very important is that the next election is an election to form a government. And a positive vote is needed to continue the ruptures with the past.”

He still did not rule out the possibility for other parties to enter the Parliament, however he estimated that in the electoral body he will again decide with the logic of the prevalence of a political agenda which is front-loaded. “We speak and will speak throughout the election campaign about the future. The entire policy of SYRIZA was condemned, which was limited only to a catastrophe, to a gray political agenda. On the contrary, we speak and will speak about the existing problems of the country and to we promise what we can do,” he concluded.

Ant. PI.