Title photo: left.gr
The change in the political balance in Greece is starting to become permanent. A second poll in a row in recent days shows priority of SYRIZA over New Democracy and Golden Dawn has established itself as the third political force.
In particular, according to a poll conducted by the RASS agency, the radical left holds the lead in the political preferences of the Greeks with 23.8%, followed by New Democracy with 22.7%. Golden Dawn is in the third place with 9.2%.
According to this poll, PASOK is the fourth political force and 7.2% of the participants support it.
Then follow Panos Kamenos’ Independent Greeks with 6.1%, Democratic Left with 5% and the Greek Communist Party with 4.5%.
The percentage of citizens who have not explicitly stated for which party they would vote today is higher – 11%. 3.6% stated they would support "some other party" and 3.1% said they would vote with a white or spoiled ballot.
At the same time, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras holds a significant lead in the category of "the most suitable for prime minister." His result is 45.5% against Alexis Tsipras’ 29.9%.
Poll results had apparently played a role for the proposal, which the leader of Independent Greeks Panos Kamenos made through an interview for a Sunday edition. He suggested to SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras that both parties’ deputies should submit their resignations together, thus causing new elections, under an article of the constitution.
According to lawyers, however, such an action could cause elections only in the constituencies of resigned deputies, because paragraph 3 of article 41 stipulates that the parliament cannot be dismissed within one year of its formation.
For its part, the party that has been continually increasing its influence - Golden Dawn, has further enhanced its provocative behaviour. Its leader Nikos Mihaloliakos made a Nazi salute to the participants at the "Feast of the Greek youth" which Golden Dawn had organized in the park of the army in the Goudi neighbourhood on Saturday night.
"They called us Nazis. These hands could have greeted this way sometimes but they are clean at least, they have never stolen anything," he stated before about 10,000 right wing youths.
His gesture provoked strong reactions from the government and the left parties, and the Minister of Citizen Protection Nikos Dendias said that the police would make every effort to deal with the "big challenge associated with the advent of fascism, which we face for the first time as a society."
According to information unconfirmed by official sources, during the same Saturday evening, a group of supporters of Golden Dawn attacked again foreigners, who were selling their goods without a permit at the market in the city of Sperhiada, Fthiotida District. Spirits calmed down, when police intervened sending the vendors without a licence away from the market.
Concerns about the dangers of Golden Dawn’s increasing influence are constantly growing. Professor of history at Columbia University and a very good expert in European, Balkan and Greek history, Mark Mazower, spares no words when talking about the neo-Nazi formation:
"This is a radical far-right party, which, like the old fascist and Nazi parties during World War II, uses violence to get to power. Golden Dawn has managed to bring it into the public life to a degree that causes anxiety. But violence is primarily a symptom of deeper social disorientation caused by the crisis. It's hard to me to find even a trace of a plan for resolving the crisis in their programme. So, they constantly refer to World War II and the Greek Civil War. I cannot believe that such a party will persist for a long time in a country like Greece, which suffered so much from Nazism and the treacherous strife of the Civil War. But on the other hand, I did not expect it to develop so quickly and therefore, we must be very careful."
As for the first preferred party, SYRIZA, Mark Mazower says that so far, it has not presented a concrete solution for the governing of the country.
"Someone described SYRIZA as a "Chechen solution", i.e. "We will take with us whoever tries to kill us." They may be right, may be not, but the risk is high. Other European countries can tell Mr. Tsipras "I'm sorry, goodbye," when he becomes prime minister. What will happen then? I want to hear more from SYRIZA - what it will do and what the future of the country with the drachma will be. I think it will not be good. I would never play with fire. Moreover, what does Golden Dawn have to say, which is a symptom of the political crisis? I think the situation is very difficult in order for them to believe that the rhetoric against the memorandum is sufficient."