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Ghost of Papandreou hovers over Greek elections
September 21, 1996
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT)From Correspondent John Psaropoulos
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Candidates ceased campaigning Saturday -- 24 hours before polls open for national elections in Greece -- while voters pondered the beginning of a new political era.
The death of Premier Andreas Papandreou earlier this year cleared a stage that he had dominated, sometimes from the wings, for fifteen years. Even now, Papandreou's influence is hard to ignore. Leading the election are two men who became famous by standing up to him.
Papandreou's successor, Socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis, frequently disagreed with Papandreou's populist economic policy.
Last year he resigned as industry minister when his plan to privatize Greece's largest shipyard was overruled. He became a key critic of Papandreou within his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), rallying others in opposition to the charismatic Papandreou.
Conservative leader Miltiades Evert of the New Democracy Party first defied Papandreou ten years ago while serving as mayor of Athens. At that time Evert, nicknamed the "bulldozer" for his aggressive style, opened Greece's first independent radio station, breaking a state monopoly and creating a new means of criticizing Papandreou's government.
Simitis and Evert are also ideologically close. Both were trained as economists, believe in a free market, and want Greece to achieve full economic convergence with the European Union.
In the Papandreou era, socialists and conservatives differed -- if only for the sake of differing. Today their similarities are repelling voters, sending them to smaller parties ranging from right-wing nationalists to communists and greens.
And many say they don't care who wins because it won't make any difference.
As a result, both socialists and conservatives are down to ratings of 30 percent each, a far cry from the 51 percent any party needs to govern under Greece's system of proportional representation.
The economy isn't just the main issue in this election, it is also responsible for the timing of the election. Fixing it requires severe spending cuts, stricter tax collection and trimming the public sector.
Those measures are among Simitis' 1997 budget proposals. Simitis called for the elections a year early to renew his mandate before plunging Greece into austerity.
When he announced the election last month, Simitis' lead seemed to guarantee him victory. He promised a clean campaign, free of Papandreou-style mass rallies and denunciations of political opponents.
But as his popularity dropped, Simitis found himself doing precisely what Papandreou did: leaving voters and politicians alike seemingly unable to shrug off Papandreou's ghost.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- No clear favorite in Greek elections - September 20, 1996
- Greek prime minister warns Turkish troops on Cyprus - August 17, 1996
- Former Greek premier Papandreou dead after prolonged illness - June 22, 1996
- Simitis replaces Papandreou - January 18, 1996
Related sites:
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- Information on Greece from the CIA World Factbook
- Vryonis Center Greek politics page
- Facts about Greece
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