Inherited politics?
If we show a little more faith than we normally do in opinion polls, we can be sure that the day after the elections will be a happy one for both the main parties. All evidence shows that New Democracy will triumphantly take Athens, whose keys will be handed over to Dora Bakoyianni by her predecessor Dimitris Avramopoulos who, after eight years in office, has managed to become an expert at official functions if nothing else. PASOK, in the meantime, will brag over the victory of Fofi Yennimata, which will prove that our current form of government is a democracy of inheritance. But until this shared moment of joy, party cadres have plenty of time to continue their subtle philosophical and political ruminations and make public some interesting opinions. One such observation – on the aforementioned subject of inheritance – was made by a ND deputy and one-time premier, Tzannis Tzannetakis, evidently annoyed at the confusion caused by the similarity of his name and that of ND’s candidate for the Athens-Piraeus super-prefecture, Yiannis Tzannetakos. «It is a case of inherited succession,» he said of Gennimata’s candidature during an ND council session – a remark that was no doubt greeted by nervous coughs from Costas Karamanlis and Dora Bakoyianni-Mitsotakis (who have inherited the name of two former premiers – the former, that of his uncle, and the latter, her father). Those in such privileged positions have every right to aspire to public posts, but pretending their efforts are unaided smacks of hypocrisy…
