By Penelope Galliou

Interviews, pre-election spots, posts on social media, appearances at conferences and events and above all tours and direct contact with citizens, weave the ND’s pre-election canvas, as the pre-election period peaks and the distance to the polls on June 9 shortens.

The prime minister himself, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has a leading and central role in this electoral strategy, bearing the brunt of the campaign but also giving the guidelines to his party officials, so that they can communicate the right messages and pose the right dilemmas to the citizens .

Daily life with top issues of the economy, health and the continuation of reforms are high on the government’s agenda and remain throughout the pre-election period as the government staff estimates that these issues will also be decisive for the election result in June.

Speaking at an event of the Technical Chamber of Greece for the presentation of the Unified Digital Map and the National Register of Infrastructure, Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the course of the government’s work to date, noting that “a lot has been done, but we are in the middle of this journey. Much more remains to be done” and focused on the goal of government for Greece to advance “even faster on the path of development, a development that brings both jobs and public revenues. But the citizen will also trust the state with actions that ultimately improve their own progress”.

He developed, among other things, what political stability means, which the ND puts at stake ahead of the European elections and underlines its importance for the next day of the country. “Therefore, political stability and productive continuity in the country are also of key importance,” said Mr. Mitsotakis, estimating that these are valuable conditions that will also be tested in a few weeks in the European elections, while underlining the fact that “the government not only he knows how to claim and bring European resources to Greece, but above all he knows how to use them for the benefit of national development and of each individual Greek”.

Under these conditions, the entire program and goals of the ruling faction will unfold in the final stretch for the June European elections, highlighting the government’s work from the tangibles concerning projects and infrastructure delivered to citizens, to increases in citizens’ income and the institutions that shield the country and facilitate citizens by solving big problems as well as small problems.

The ND’s strategy includes, of course, the opposition, aiming to highlight its lack of proposals and the “populism” of its votes, according to the blue executives, arguing that there is no alternative opposition proposal and all they care about is the departure of Mitsotakis” commented the Prime Minister himself. “When you ask them what will happen next, you hear silence” he characteristically said.

An additional “unknown X” added to the ballot box equation out of the blue seems to be the foreign policy and national issues that have come up almost simultaneously in the last week and if anything the opposition is expected to keep them on the agenda of the confrontation until the election. In addition to our perennial issues and permanent differences with Turkey, which are kept under wraps, the issue that arose with North Macedonia with the inauguration of the new president using the name “Macedonia”, but also the challenges of the Prime Minister of Albania , Eddie Ramma, to our country, are expected to play their part in this election season and delicate manipulations are required to maintain the balances that will not send the wrong messages to the citizens, making them vulnerable to the “sirens” of the opposition speech and populism, as government officials comment.

In the midst of these conditions, today and tomorrow Kyriakos Mitsotakis will tour Pieria, Pella and Imathia, to underline that the European elections “are not offered either for inaction, or for indifference, or for an irrefutable vote of alleged protest that may put the country to new adventures”. After all, these are areas where during the previous, national elections, there was an increase in the parties that are positioned to the right of the ND.

In Pieria, the party of Dimitris Natsios, “Niki” had gathered its largest percentage at 9.26%, while in total the “right-wing” parties of the ND had gathered a percentage that reached 21.82%. The parties in question, Hellenic Solution, Niki, Spartans, which will not participate in the upcoming European elections following a decision by the Supreme Court, had recorded high percentages in Pella as well, reaching a total of 20%. Trends that are estimated to still exist in the disputed areas and therefore increase the pressure and interest of the ND to reverse the climate and win this “bet”.

It is therefore estimated that national issues will play a key role in these areas, and from this the message sent from the ND side is that patriotism must be judged in action and not in words, recalling all that the government has achieved to strengthen and security of the country, up to the international alliances that make Greece an equal interlocutor and a factor of stability for the wider region.