The result of the general election of last Sunday in my country was very bad: a triumph for the Right and more particularly for the party of Nea Dimokratia of the incumbent prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and a crushing defeat for the major party of the Left, the Syriza of Alexis Tsipras. This result is stunning. Not that Syriza did not have its important weaknesses, but Mitsotakis’ conservative government had failed spectacularly in important issues like Covid and the rising cost of life and Mitsotakis himself was compromised with serious violations of the democratic order (efforts to control and manipulate the media and the judicial system, but also eavesdroppings of political opponents, of journalists, or even of...ministers of the government whose loyalty to Mitsotakis was doubted). The policies of Mitsotakis’ government toward refugees and people seeking asylum were also awful and contrary to the international law. Partial explanations for this unexpected outcome of the election can be found in the support of almost all the established media for Mitsotakis and the Right and in the tactical mistakes of Syriza. But I think that there is also a more general and deeper conservative turn of a large part of the society, for reasons that must be analyzed.
Now, despite the result of the election and the triumph of the Right, the proportional electoral system did not allow an absolute majority of Mitsotakis’ party (Nea Dimokratia) in the Parliament. Given that Mitsotakis has no interest in coalition governments with far right parties or with centrist parties, a new general election will be held in the next month, this time with a different electoral system, which gives an important bonus to the first party. If the Right expands even further its electoral base, it could now gain even a supermajority, a thing which would open the way for a reform of the Constitution in conservative/reactionary direction. I hope that this will not happen and that Syriza will recover, at least partially. Anyway, we have entered a new and difficult period, with a Right far more powerful than before. I think that, despite this reality, leftist and progressive people of my country should avoid defeatism, although it is sure that many things must change in the Left, if it wants to make a comeback.
