Whenever the Right governed the country, it wore the… fez of the Center Right. It was paradoxical, but amongst the conservative yet democratic bourgeois the miserable remnants of dictatorial regimes found refuge.
[One remnant of Metaxas’ 4th of August dictatorship, K. Maniadiakis – Metaxas’ infamous Security Minister – was an ERE MP up to April 1967 when the next dictatorship established itself]
The Right has always and intentionally collected “the trimmings of the political process” (the quote is attributed to Georgios Mavros).
The conservative faction always lacked compared to its opponents, which formed the Center.
The far Left also attempted top wear a similar “fez” from time to time. It was the so-called politics of the populist front, which also did not yield any results.
When the times are tough, the two political factions lose their balance and their fans abandon them in droves. Something similar is going on today.
The upcoming elections for the European Parliament will prompt a potential reform of the politics in Greece.
The centrist voters may be in the position to trigger a reform in the political environment.
Those who believe that the centrist voters have gone away are making a serious error. The crisis within the democratic faction will prove to be the basis of a new start. The “fez” will not prevail.
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
