By Antonis Anzoletou

The parties are well aware of the “pitfalls” of this year’s European elections and are trying to avoid them. For New Democracy, complacency is the biggest concern for Kyriakos Mitsotakis. It is not expected – barring the unexpected – that there will be major changes in the political scene from the polls that will be held in June. This is what the polls show so far. Even some small losses recorded by the blue party will be considered by all to be a vote of protest and a message to the current government which is in its second term. The bill on same-sex couples passed yesterday, rural protests, security issues and punctuality cannot fail to sway a section of the electorate.

But what can a figure in the 35% zone mean for New Democracy, as all the surveys show, when the opposition is 20 points away from the first? The lack of a strong opponent carries serious risks of demobilization. Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to send a message of “continuity” and confidence from the current government, as well as form a clean “corridor” by the summer of 2027. Any further drop in numbers will give the opposition the right to talk about “attrition ” and for “ripping off the government sweater”. In the post-colonial period, no prime minister managed to win a third consecutive term.

In the event that PASOK comes in second place, Nikos Androulakis will start envisioning the old bipartisanship as it developed up to 2009. If SYRIZA manages to recover and survive under New Democracy, Stefanos Kasselakis will restore the narrative of the “governing left” which now seems to be moving away. Certainly, for both opposition parties, the European elections are a “trap” especially for the debate that is expected to open for the reorganization of the forces of the center-left. Possibly lead to a “wreck” that will highlight the different strategies that exist. How clear the difference between them will be is a crucial point. As well as whether the second will manage to overcome the psychological limit of 20%. Always in these cases who will lead such an effort is the major issue. SYRIZA must prove in the Euro-election that it is too tough to die and PASOK must convince that only with it in second place and with a good percentage can the “unification” be achieved and the rule of Kyriakos Mitsotakis complete.