Voters send a clear message
Greece’s mainstream political parties need to take the results of the recent GPO survey into serious consideration, for it reflects voters’ views about the path that New Democracy and PASOK should take in the near future. More than a week ago Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis took a major political step by announcing the government’s intention to review the constitution. The conservative leader elaborated further, suggesting that the revised treaty should abolish permanent job tenure for public service employees. Although the premier has often flashed the constitutional card, opposition leader George Papandreou has wavered on the issue. PASOK responded with a statement released many hours after the premier’s speech. Evangelos Venizelos, a senior Socialist cadre and potential Papandreou rival at the helm of PASOK, showed better reflexes quickly hammering at the government’s proposals, but his stance only helped trigger a fresh round of navel-gazing inside PASOK… The GPO opinion poll made clear that voters expect more government measures aimed at enhancing the country’s political and economic prosperity and appear to have shed once-undisputed stereotypes such as civil servants having jobs-for-life status. As far as PASOK is concerned, people expect straightforward political language and novel proposals rather than belated, passive reaction to the government’s moves. The extent to which the prime minister and opposition leader succeed in meeting these popular demands will largely determine the outcome of the coming elections.
