OPINION

Lukewarm support

The uncertainty and concern shared by top-level cadres of ruling PASOK less than a week before the general elections is not only due to the eventuality of defeat. However bizarre this may seem, it is also caused by the possibility of victory, which would result in the confirmation of George Papandreou’s omnipotence. That would mean an uncertain future for party officials who have played a part in PASOK’s administrations to date. Indeed, it is very doubtful that PASOK’s new leader has the honest, unanimous and undivided support of senior party officials, who appear to be focusing almost exclusively on their party duties rather than the crucial election campaign. During the first few days when Papandreou was being promoted as a dynamic new chief for PASOK, many believed that this apparent inactivity was part of the party’s pre-election campaign and designed to substantiate proclamations of an imminent break with the party’s stale past. Very soon, however, it became clear that not only had the party’s old and new executive committees not agreed on a strategy to pursue, but also there had been apparently no discussion ahead of important decisions made by Papandreou. This lack of coordination was evident in the management of the Pachtas affair, the recruitment of Androulakis, Manos and others, and Papandreou’s blatant shilly-shallying over appearing on television alongside his political rivals.

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