By Antonis Anzoletou

On the evening of May 21 his overwhelming defeat SYRIZA it not only marked a new era for the party and a forced “restart”. The result was unprecedented in post-revolutionary annals, as it was the first time the official opposition failed to improve its ratings. The 20-point difference has sparked much debate about how Koumoundourou has communicated her program over the past four years, whether she has come across as credible to citizens and critical last-minute mistakes. The old “bipartisanship” that has returned after the fragmentation of 2012 has suffered another blow. In 2019 the New Democracy and SYRIZA had collected 71.38% of valid votes. In the last elections, due to the drop in SYRIZA’s percentage to 20.07%, they barely managed to exceed 60%.

What was the course of the parties that found themselves in the position of the official opposition from the post-colonial period onwards? Strictly bullish. Andreas Papandreou’s PASOK in its first appearance in the elections in November 1974 recorded a percentage of 13.58% and after three years it was in second place behind New Democracy with 25.34%. In 1981 the “change” brought him to power with a historic 48.07%. New Democracy 42 years ago was in the official opposition and it took four years to increase its numbers by about four points (40.87%) and then in April 1990 in an adventurous way to take power (46.89%) .

Following the chronological order for the PASOK of Andreas Papandreou, it took just three years to increase the 38.61% of 1990 by eight points and take the reins of the country in 1993. Then New Democracy with the late Miltiadis Evert lost the contest with Costas Simitis in 1996 and remained in the position of the official opposition with 38.12%. Kostas Karamanlis in 2000 raised its percentages to 42.73% and after four years with 45.36% he passed the door of Megaros Maximos. PASOK found itself in the position of official opposition and both powerful poles may have dropped their percentages in 2007 with New Democracy winning again (41.84% – 38.10%), but George Papandreou following the “rule” won in 2009 and with 43.94% he became prime minister.

What is observed is this: there were many self-sufficient governments after the post-colonial period. But it was always followed by a strong official opposition in contrast to what happened on May 21. And SYRIZA, after all, when it emerged as a party of power and took the place of PASOK, recorded an upward trend. In May 2012 behind his New Republic Antonis Samaras scored 16.79%, a percentage that increased by 10 points a month later (26.89%). It took three years to pass and Alexis Tsipras from leader of the official opposition he was elected prime minister twice. In January 2015 (36.34%) and in September of the same year (35.46%). “Governmental course” was also followed by New Democracy, which from 28.10% in 2015 (ranking it in second place) made it 39.85% in 2019 with Kyriakos Mitsotakis taking over as prime minister. Alexis Tsipras presented the program of SYRIZA yesterday and in Koumoundourou they aim to correct their performance by proving that they remain the main and hegemonic pole of the center-left.