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Greece’s two-party system obituary has been printed long ago

16 November 2010 / 12:11:16  GRReporter
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Dora Bakoyannis will found her party the next Sunday. Two former members of New Democracy have already announced that they will support her. Do you think that others will follow?

Ms. Bakoyannis has already announced, though not specifically, that another 3-4 members of New Democracy will follow her. The good election result of the candidate she supported in the race for the region of Crete, the fact that some of her positions are accepted well and above all the high percentage of the electoral inactivity suggest that she could have certain expectations. She was involved in the old and exhausted political system, of course, which the voters rejected, but no one has fallen from up above. And she is perhaps the only one from the right wing that has the courage to show and highlight some of its weaknesses that continue to dominate the New Democracy. I think she will be able to survive.
Two-party system is still strong in Greece, but beside the party of Dora Bakoyannis, we have another new party - the Democratic Left of Fotis Kouvelis. For the first time there will be two parties beside the two main parties that will not reject the possibility to participate in coalition government. If polls show that voters do not reject the possibility of coalitions, then this scenario is not ruled out to additionally push Dora Bakoyannis by joining functionaries from New Democracy to her party, who tend to participate in government. And this is something the opposition party is not yet ready to claim.  

Is there room for another right-wing party on the Greek political stage?

You see, the obituary of the two-party system in Greece has long been printed, but we see that it survives. Maybe it has seven lives. On the other hand, the political system of none of the countries which had the IMF hurricane has survived in its original form. It is not excluded Greek society to stop hovering between the two major parties and seek various policy proposals, a more realistic tone and not so narrow political space. In this case, today's conditions perhaps allow something similar to happen. Consider how radically the political system in all countries that had the IMF has changed – they went bankrupt or both occurred. Let’s take for example Turkey. Most of the political parties that existed until the early 21st century remained outside the parliament. I do not think Greece will witness such tectonic earthquakes, but the small changes that society makes in the political system could allow Dora Bakoyannis to implement her plan. Moreover, she starts with a model that was not so productive in the past but it worked out in the case of George Kaminis. And it is the breakthrough in the social classes of the highest cultural, educational and financial level. The combination of a rhetoric aimed at better educated Greeks and a traditional mechanism which is developed throughout Greece could possibly help her to survive politically, thus contributing for a radical change in the conditions and operation of the Greek political system.

Tags: Election resultsTwo-party systemNew DemocracyDora BakoyannisAntonis Samaras
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