Movement for Change, the coalition formed by the former Pasok, celebrates a primary in which Nikos Andrulakis is the favorite
The Greek center-left renews itself. Movement for Change (Kinal), the party born in 2017 from the union of the historical socialists of Pasok with other minor progressive forces, celebrates this Sunday the second round of its primary elections after the unexpected death last October of its previous President, Fofi Yenimatá. Except for surprise, the winner is expected to be Nikos Andrulakis, a 42-year-old MP who was already the most voted in the first round. An engineer born in Crete and considered of moderate positions, Andrulakis embodies the renewal against his rival, the veteran Yorgos Papandreu, son of the founder of Pasok and who resigned in 2012 as Prime Minister due to the severe financial crisis that then began to shake the country Hellene.
The polls predict that Andrulakis would achieve up to 16 points of margin over Papandreou, a difference that could even widen after the candidate who finished third in the first round of the first, Andreas Loverdos, announced that he will vote for the youngest candidate in this second turn. For the militants of the center-left, Andrulakis, who did not participate in the governments that put Greece on the brink, seems the best option if they want to break with the image of the past and with the corruption scandals that shook Pasok. The favorite insisted this week precisely that it represents the change so that the center-left “once again plays a leading role” in Greek politics. It thus offered itself as an alternative to both New Democracy, the conservative party that won the 2019 elections and to which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis belongs, as well as Syriza, the leftist coalition of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, current leader of the opposition.
For Hellenic analysts, it is the latter who is most concerned that Andrulakis will finally take over the reins of Kinal. Syriza based its growth on winning over many of the former Pasok voters, who turned their backs on the Socialists, considering them jointly responsible for the deep economic crisis that the country suffered in the previous decade and from which it has not yet fully recovered. Younger in addition to Tsipras, Andrulakis aspires to convince progressives to return to the center-left and forget about Syriza, with which many Hellenes were disappointed during the previous government.
Whether Andrulakis or Papandreu wins the primaries, the next leader of Kinal does not seem to find it very difficult to overcome the result of the general elections two years ago, when it fell to a poor 8.1%. Despite his poor prospects, Papandreou is not resigned and assured in a recent interview with the ‘Corriere della Sera’ that during his period in power he had to make “very difficult decisions” due to the financial crisis. “Now people have understood that they were adequate and all the governments since have followed the same path. The Greeks have understood that it was not the fault of Pasok.
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