By Stavros Lygeros

The promise of renewal — even when reduced to an empty slogan — always seemed a sure way of restoring lost political credibility. PASOK is no exception. When it comes to George Papandreou, there is certainly no shortage of renewal pledges. The truth is that unless he succeeds in wiping clean the Socialists’ ethics record, PASOK will never fully recover. And, certainly, retirements can prove handy in that respect.

It was here that Papandreou saw a chance to strengthen his hand within the party, promoting people to the top echelons of PASOK who otherwise would never have got there. The problem was that Papandreou went too far. He could have handpicked two or three cadres with few credentials for the 20-member Political Council, but he went for seven. The National Council reacted by voting for three independent candidates and closing the door on the others. Maria Damanaki barely made it, and that was thanks to the female quota system. Evangelos Venizelos and Theodoros Pangalos easily captured a seat. These two are not simply senior cadres, they are heavyweight figures with enough leverage to offset the leader.

The election of Mariliza Xenoyiannakopoulou as PASOK secretary deflected attention from all this. The election of a young and relatively unknown woman to the No. 2 party post was bound to attract public interest. Nevertheless, it was no mere public relations trick. Xenoyiannakopoulou knows her way around the party. Moreover, she holds an unblemished record and exhibits a fresh political ethos that PASOK very much needs.

Without doubt, all this played a role in her election. But there was still another reason. While waving the flag of renewal, Papandreou is at the same time shaving the secretary’s political power. Besides, one could see from the start that the flipside of his much-heralded “participatory democracy” is rule by one man.