He gave his own answers to the reasons why his telefight with Nikos Androulakis “wrecked” in its presidential candidate PASOK and mayor of Athens, Harry Doukas.

Speaking to “Mismatched“, Mr. Doukas unleashed “fire” against his co-candidate for the leadership of Harilaou Trikoupi, accusing him of not wanting the debate to take place between them. “We had said from Monday morning to ERT that we are absolutely available any day and time” as he characteristically explained, admitting that the commitment of the municipal council on Wednesday had been there for a long time, however “we did not make any speech at all and we did not make anyone other programming on the other days, so that our schedule is absolutely free and flexible”.

At the same time, he informed that for his part he had informed that initially he wanted the debate to be held on Tuesday as in the first round, but it was announced on behalf of Nikos Androulakis from Monday that he had a planned pre-election speech in Pyrgos on Wednesday. “There were the options of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, I even said Saturday. So what’s the reason the debate didn’t happen?’ asked the mayor of Athens, adding that “the fact that we don’t discuss is also the core of the problem in PASOK”.

“Is it possible to say that the national team has a match and therefore we are not having a debate today, Thursday? Ten o’clock is the National, let’s do it earlier at 8 or 8.30 ours, it would take an hour. Is it possible to say about Friday that it cannot be done? Let it be Tuesday. It is obvious that he did not want to discuss and raise the issues. This is exactly a classic example of a phobic PASOK. When a public commitment is made, we finally have to keep it. After all, no one told me to postpone the municipal council.”

“The dilemma is stagnation or change – I haven’t thought of a vice president structure yet”

In addition, Haris Doukas expressed his belief that he can be the big winner of Sunday, describing the demand for change as powerful. “Change is also the reason this whole internal party process started. PASOK must raise its stature and be a solution for the progressive governance of the country. And in order to convince that you can change direction in the country, you must first convince that you can change direction in your area.”

He also referred to a series of new proposals for the next day of the lineup:

“For example, there must be a new body, a political center from all my co-candidates and it meets every week without fear on all the issues of everyday life and our interventions in society. I have not yet thought about a structure of vice-presidents”, as he said, while responding to the accusations of Nikos Androulakis that he represents 70% of PASOK, while he himself represents 100%, he noted:

“We are all reaching out to all friends and all members. The world out there can’t wait for us any longer and the longer we delay, the more the Backdoor of populism, intolerance and the Far Right looms. That is why the parliamentary group must have a reason and a role instead of sleeping with “yes” and waking up with “no” or vice versa on critical bills. People are waiting for clear answers.”

“I didn’t talk about princes and fugitives – No disappointment about my percentages in Athens, I’m a new mayor”

When asked if he could work with Nikos Androulakis the next day, he expressed the hope that he would be able to. “I was not the one who spoke about adventures, about deletions, about princes and fugitives, nor did I make characterizations, because I believe in unity”, while he did not feel disappointed by his percentages in the first round in Athens. “I am a new mayor, we made a good record against an extreme war that we allegedly had mice and there were no wells. Let me remind you that Nikos Androulakis also came third in Thessaloniki, who is an MP”.

At the same time, he does not believe, as he said, that his bad percentages were due to the bad administration of Athens.