By Stavros Lygeros

Dimitris Avramopoulos’s withdrawal from the race for New Democracy’s leadership confirmed what we already knew would happen: namely that the contest would be fought by Antonis Samaras and Dora Bakoyannis. Should Panayiotis Psomiadis stay until the end, his nomination will effectively serve Bakoyannis, as he is expected to win over many who may otherwise have voted for Samaras.

The rhetoric of the two opponents in the countdown to the election is only of relative value, as their public image has played a much more significant role. What it has revealed is that they represent different ideo-political trends within the center-right. It is also worth noting that many high-ranking party officials are not backing a particular candidate on ideo-political grounds.

The truth is that candidates are rarely backed for their ideological or political beliefs, as these are often outweighed by personal ties and political exchanges. In the case of New Democracy however, these two factors seem to actually determine the choice made by officials, many of whom try to veil their not-so-selfless motives by claiming that they are only looking for the best person to bring the party back into power.

The advocates of this apolitical approach have obviously learned nothing in the past five years and are poised to make the same mistakes all over again, because the only way for a party to be re-elected is to first convince society of its policies, to show voters that it has a plan for the country and that this plan will be more effective than anything the current government has to offer.

The voters for ND’s next leader need to assess the ideological and political beliefs of each candidate and also their leadership skills. The two main contenders right now stand for very different things. If the voters choose a leader on the basis of their public relations skills and the influence they wield, they will be condemning ND to a prolonged period of crisis.