Quite a few believe that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will turn out to be a long-term leader.
“He came to stay in power for many years” his propagandists, advocates and fans claim.
They base their estiamations on the belief that Mr. Tsipras represents the weakest and the poorest, the civil servants and the pensioners; that he opposes the affluent, the rich in general, the “enemies of the people”, according to them.
To support the afforementioned, they cite the humanitarian stance and solidarity towards the refugees, noting that the people are rallying behing him and not following the nationalist fearmongering rhetoric of the opposition.
Of course they ignore the government’s recantations, the constant retreats, such as the failure of their estimations regarding the economy and the refugee crisis.
They also hide the fact that the people is being increasingly burdened, that the tax hikes are eating up low incomes and that the pensions, with mathematical precision, will be adjusted to the Procrustean bed when the infamous bailout review concludes.
Additionally, they say nothing about the unemployemnt that continues to ravage the yuth, just like they downplay the fact that their alliance with the Independent Greeks is in crisis after the dispute over Mouzalas.
They also avoid addressing the prevailing belief among the Greek people that the coalition govenrment is primarily distinguished for its incompetence, more than anything else. Those systematically following the polls will have a far different opinion than the estimations circulated by the government propagandists.
The pollsters and researchers – whom the national censor also wants to gag – estimate that support for the parties has changed dramatically in recent months. The slew of quantitative data shows that Mr. Tsipras’ party is under major dispute and support has dropped to the levels of the May 2012 elections. After the many bitter experiences from the new government, support for his party has literally collapsed as a large section of his voters has distanced itself, if not fully left. The same quantitative data also reveals the plunge of the Independent Greeks (which in many ways explaines the stance of Mr. Kammenos), just like that of the River.
On the contrary, the data confirms the ascent of New Democracy, following the election of Kyriakos Mitsotakis (which is almost double of that of SYRIZA), the stability of PASOK under Mrs. Gennimata and the need for a broader alliance within the Center Left. The most important finding though is that the Greek people will no longer settle for pauperization and leveling everything.
The prospect of the poor house neither excites, nor does it motivate.
That is why Mr. Tsipras will not last long.
Because he has simply not demonstrated any progress nor made any proposals for growth and prosperity.
Antonis Karakousis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
