Greek elections: The PM’s new augury for the polls

A new “augury” by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, even if it was captured fleetingly, triggered the scenario for the peak election time in April, while the discussions were stirred up even more by the statements of Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “point” to Turkish polls in May. Under the instructions of Mitsotakis, his party’s mechanism is raising the pace of the electoral organization anyway and has April 9 as its first stop (few are betting on April 2), even if, waiting for the Prime Minister’s decisions, the last three Sundays of  May remain circled as possible election days.

Two days after the Prime Minister told party officials about a first election “either in April or May” and “4-5 weeks between the first and second ballot”, came 12 words interpreted as a “snapshot” of the Prime Minister’s thoughts. “I want to go to Olympus in May (…) after the elections we will climb” he said in a casual conversation with a mountain climber in the Municipality of Korydallos.

“Doesn’t this time require a mountain for important decisions?” asked jokingly one New Democracy official, supporting elections to be held the soonest possible. The April 9 “camp” interpreted Mitsotakis’s recent asides in conjunction with the developments in Turkey, considering the possibility of parallel electoral contests: if the battle of the simple proportionality in Greece was fought on April 9, then the ballot box for the enhanced proportionality bout could be set up on May 14, i.e. in the first round, as everything shows, of the Turkish elections.

Prime ministerial associates emphasize that “temporal elements” will influence decisions on election time while, in relation to Turkey, the government representative confirmed the day before yesterday that developments are being evaluated against the background of Ankara’s prolonged provocative rhetoric. However, government spokesman Yannis Economou tried to play down the tone at the same time, pointing out that “it would be good to avoid a dramatization that something bad will happen during that time”.

And while those who recommend April for the first ballot and May for the second prevail, exorcising a longer… more exhausting course that has started since last autumn, there are still formulations in favor of the end of spring.

Devotees of the scenario support the prospect of May with concrete arguments: it will reduce any risks that the caretaker government would have to manage vis-à-vis Turkey, after its own pre-election period has ended, Mitsotakis’s institutional commitment will be strengthened with an absolute exhaustion of four years , the tourist season will already be running, the new increase (as of April 1) of the minimum wage will have been recorded for good, etc. What is certain is that the PM’s office is asking for “readiness” at any time (and) for April and, while New Democracy cadres are investing in the space they currently maintain as shown by polls, personally Mitsotakis is defining target commitments for the next four years. Using as his motto, as he repeated from the second electoral district of  Piraeus, “better wages”.