The right-wing party that had been in power for four years in Greece appears to be in a good position to secure a comfortable majority of seats in legislative elections scheduled for Sunday.
Obtaining a second mandate for New Democracy could result in a new hardening of the country’s migration policies, are alarmed by human rights organizations, which accuse the outgoing government of flouting international laws in force with the tacit support of the European authorities.
“If they win the election, their approach to migrants will have been rewarded. It will give them carte blanche to introduce even more repressive measures,” said Athens-based Human Rights Watch analyst Eva Cosse in an interview.
The poll comes as Greece’s coast guard faces a barrage of questions over its role in the tragic end of hundreds of migrants aboard an overloaded boat that sank last week near the southeastern town of Pylos. west of the country.
A hundred people were saved and 80 bodies were recovered. The search continues to find the remains of hundreds of missing persons, including dozens of women and children.
The responsibility thrown on the smugglers
Although it is still too early to decide on the course of events and to determine whether the coast guards failed in their duties by failing to come to the aid of the boat, the Greek media insist that the responsibility for the tragedy lies with the smugglers, M-grademe Pod.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE COAST GUARD, REUTERS ARCHIVES
The migrant ship before it sank on June 14.
She does not believe that the magnitude of the tragedy is such as to weaken the support of New Democracy and its leader, Kyriákos Mitsotákis, who has made “border protection” a key element of his campaign.
The population, underlines the researcher, has a distorted view of the situation since the mainstream media repeatedly repeat the analysis of New Democracy, which aggressively attacks any individual or non-governmental organization daring to criticize its approach to migration.
Sunday’s poll comes barely a month after the Greek population was called to the polls to vote for the first time.
New Democracy then won a convincing victory with 41% of the vote, far ahead of its main opponent, the left-wing party Syriza, with 20%.
The outgoing Prime Minister has rejected the idea of forming a coalition, opting instead, as a recent electoral reform allows, for the holding of a second rapid ballot providing for the automatic allocation of a bonus of seats to the winning party.
Opposition weakened
Marina Prentoulis, professor of political science at East Anglia University, in Great Britain, notes that the performance of New Democracy exceeded forecasts, even though its victory was expected.
The government was hit by a wiretapping scandal and a train accident that killed 57 people, but that did not shake its foundations.
The economic difficulties experienced by many Greeks
– 20% of them today live below the poverty line – apparently did not have a decisive influence at the polls either.
The setbacks of Syriza, note Mme Prentoulis, partly reflect the lasting disillusionment of part of the left with the party’s about-turn in economic matters.
The party applied severe austerity measures called for by the European Union after it came to power in 2015, even though a majority of Greeks voted in a referendum against such an approach.
PHOTO LOUISA GOULIAMAKI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
An electoral campaign poster and a kiosk of the leftist formation Syriza, in Athens, on June 17th.
“Syriza has since changed its strategy and moved ideologically towards the center to obtain some of the votes there, but it did not work”, notes the academic.
Pasok, a traditional centre-left party that won only 5% of the vote in the 2015 election, won 11% a month ago, finishing third.
Several far-right parties that wanted to take part in the election were blocked by the Supreme Court, including that of Illias Kassidiaris. This former deputy, sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2020 for leading a criminal organization, was a long-time activist in the Golden Dawn party, a radical party violently attacking immigrants.
Like Eva Cosse of Human Rights Watch, Ms.me Prentoulis does not believe that the drama which occurred on the Greek shores last week will play against New Democracy.
Many people are little concerned about the fate of migrants, underlines the analyst, who criticizes the European authorities for ignoring the negative effects of the “neoliberal” approach of Mr. Mitsotakis’ party to favor the maintenance in power of a training promoting a hard line on migration.
“Greece is doing the dirty work of Europe”, summarizes Mme Pod.