Determination is what counts
First it was the reports that New Democracy would not garner enough votes to govern on its own. Now, in the light of discouraging secret polls for PASOK, the Socialists’ second line of defense is that ND will govern but with a weak majority. And how can ND tackle controversial issues, the theory goes, when a couple of disgruntled MPs could vote the other way and torpedo the move? Recent experience, however, refutes such media propaganda. It rather demonstrates that a government’s record depends on the determination of its leader and cadres to act on the basis of a comprehensive plan. Many governments with comfortable majorities in Greece’s post-1974 history, such as those of Dinos Tsaldaris, Alexandros Papagou and Andreas Papandreou, left a very poor record. On the contrary, a small majority did not prevent other governments from solving chronic problems. The administration of Nikolaos Plastiras in 1951 had a slim, two-seat majority but still succeeded in shaking up the economy by implementing an anti-inflationary policy, despite fierce reactions from laborers, merchants, farmers and industrialists. His policy opened the path for the successful devaluation of the drachma by Spyros Markezinis in 1953. Also the tissue-thin majority of the Constantine Mitsotakis government did not prevent ND from reforming the social security system, giving it a new lease on life for some 15 years. The reforms took place as 1.5 million people took to the streets in protest. Those same years also saw the first major privatization with the launch of mobile telephony and the start of all the major infrastructure projects, including the airport and the metro. The legacy of the new government will not be determined by the number of seats it holds but the determination of Karamanlis to realize his reform commitments.
