Kyriakos Mitsotakis: what is the reason for his political dominance, and how he debunked all predictions from 2015 to today

When in the autumn of 2015, after the second successive defeat of the ND in the national elections within seven months, the interim president of the party, G. Plakiotakis, “announced” the start of internal party procedures for the nomination of a new leadership, it contained many names of candidates that had been circulating in the press services for the first days after the elections, but there was no name of Kyriakos Mitsotakis…

The older sister of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Dora Bakoyannis, was very influential in New Democracy and her name was on the list of candidates. Although it suffered a stunning defeat to Samaras in the 2009 intra-party elections, the return of the former foreign minister 16 years after his departure from the ND in 1993 effectively removed the party and then Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis from power.

When Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on September 22, 2015 that he would be ND’s presidential candidate, no one but himself bet on him. Not only Evangelos Meimarakis, but also Apostolos Tsitsikostas looked much stronger in the party base. Adonis Georgiadis was not even considered as a candidate for the leader of the party.

At the first election attempt in ND on November 22, 2015, shortly before the Vodafone-provided electoral tally system scandal, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, based on voting data up to that point, as witnessed by members of the electoral commission who had seen the integration of the results, was there, where he was put by the initial forecasts: in 3rd place. E. Meimarakis was the first, with an absolute majority.

The elections were canceled due to the collapse of the Vodafone system and rescheduled for December 20, 2015. They clearly showed signs of improvement: Mitsotakis already took second place with 27.5% and, therefore, went to the second round with E. Meimarakis, who received almost 40%.

Who would bet on Mitsotakis to win by such a margin? very few

And yet, he and his team achieved what the former Minister of National Defense could not achieve: he “got along” with A. Georgiadis, who played the “anti-punitive” “hard” rightists who remained in the ND, but most importantly, he got the majority ” Karamanlists” by A. Tsitsikostas! And, gaining about 52.5%, he was elected chairman of the party on January 10, 2016!

Since then, Mitsotakis has only scored victories in a string of electoral successes now compared only to those of Konstantin Karamanlis – perhaps even better: Karamanlis has never managed to win a local election. In contrast, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy (ND) won the local elections in 2019.

Within 40 days of the same year, she won the European Parliament, local elections and national elections.

However, things were completely different in the 2023 national elections last May: a four-year term during which the only thing that did not happen in Greece was a full-scale war with Turkey and… an alien invasion!

What negative events occurred during the reign of Kyriakos Mitsotakis:

1. Insurrection in the Eastern Aegean Islands due to illegal immigration in February 2020 and his violent suppression;
2. Attempted invasion by illegal immigrants in March 2020 in Evros;
3. Introduction of a national quarantine, mandatory mask regime and the actual imprisonment of citizens for almost the next two years due to Covid-19. Stories from persecution of doctors and opponents of vaccination.
4. Periodic scandals such as the case Lignadis and a dirty story with a 12-year-old girl who was made a prostitute by one of the active ND members in Kolonos.
5. Natural disasters – catastrophic and unprecedented in scale fires in Attica And on Evia.
6. Double collapse of the state machine winter 2021 and in 2022 (fromgentle traffic jam on Attiki Odos and etc.).
7. Fiasco in Greek-Turkish relations with a three-month presence Oruk Flight on the Greek continental shelf in 2020, etc., when both countries were balancing on the verge of starting a full-scale war.
8. Espionage and wiretapping scandal leaders of opposition parties, journalists, state and semi-state employees,
9. Rise in prices and inflation in autumn 2022 And winter 2023.
10. Train accident in Tempi – it was only the end of the dramatic events of the four-year term of Mitsotakis.
11. In addition, Mitsotakis came into conflict with the leadership and fans of the most popular football teams in the north (PAOK) and southern (Olympiakos) Greece, as well as with the leader of the latter. All this was accompanied by public harsh statements.

The above events, which were the culmination of a series of epic failures and failures, could topple any government and no doubt would dump him in the electionsbased on the political experience that has been recorded up to this point. But, as it turned out, not this government.

Why?

First of all, because it was convincingly demonstrated that what Mitsotakis claims today is absolutely true: SYRIZA’s opposition to the Mitsotakis government was the worst opposition in the entire post-independence period. Tsipras was reminded of the betrayal of the national interests of Greece in the Prespes Treaty with Skopje in 2018 and the tragic management of the 2015-2019 crisis in terms of consequences for the country. Tsipras seems to have “expired” as a political product.

The pandemic, especially his rapprochement with the government, has become a political verdict, no matter how SYRIZA refuses to admit it. Tsipras has become a systembut the citizens who voted for him wanted “anti-system”. They wanted a warrior A not a good administrator. This is exactly what Mitsotakis became, and in this he is much better than Tsipras.

Now citizens painfully admit: “All our politicians are the same” and “The situation cannot be saved”

Mitsotakis dominated (and will continue to dominate the October local elections barring unforeseen circumstances) for many reasons:

• He knows how to iron out political failures. He knows how to desperately bluff and convince people that he is right.
• It has control over systemic media, as well as mechanisms to use control over non-systemic media.
• He has vast financial resources and channels them in an extremely targeted and efficient manner to a closed group of businessmen and media who reciprocate.
• He is very hardworking: only A. Samaras was as hardworking, political observers assure.
• He is extremely methodical. If we can make some comparisons, then method and diligence won over political glamor: Karamanlis and Tsipras possessed only the latter, but this, especially in the new era, is not enough.
• Mitsotakis also shows that he learned from his father’s mistakes: the “executive state” prevented his inner-party opponents from getting rich, since all expenses are controlled by his administration and by him personally. And it does not allow them to gain sufficient financial, and hence political independence.
• All businessmen who “flirted” with his potential intra-party opponents N. Dendias, A. Georgiadis, O. Kefaloyannis, etc., were “blocked”, and in one way or another received the corresponding “messages”. The same was true for potential rival political groups, especially those on the right: no businessman was allowed to support them financially, and the result was visible at the ballot box on May 21 (for those who survived).
• He has developed a strong partnership with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who fully supports Kyriakos Mitsotakis, often even contrary to her own image.
• Mitsotakis has strong and reliable support in the US Senate and House of Representatives due to his exceptionally loyal policy towards military bases in Greece, as well as from the US military-industrial complex, due to the unprecedented scale of US arms purchases.
• Mitsotakis, unlike his predecessor from SYRIZA, has excellent relations with the political beau monde of Brussels and Wall Street financiers. As a result, despite the sharp increase in the national debt, which has already reached 546 billion euros, no one remembers the bankruptcy of Greece. More rated companies regularly raise Greece’s investment rating, and government bonds are sold at a very small discount.
• K.Mitsotakis is a man of the system, a man who is convenient and beneficial to both the US leadership and the leadership of the European Union. His political statements are verified and do not, unlike A. Tsipras, disagree with the opinion of the world financial and political elite.

Tight financial control over the party’s spending, as well as many sponsors, allowed Mitsotakis to spend on the election campaign such money that his opponents could not even dream of, not to mention small parties. For example: the budgets of many, far from the smallest parties, are commensurate with the budget of the election campaign of one ND candidate in the metropolitan district of Attica.

And of course, it is not only the abilities of K. Mitsotakis that lead us to the political omnipotence of the ND (another weapon of his is that these abilities have never been properly appreciated by his political opponents). But also the weakness of others.

Changes in the electorate

It turned out that the electorate that existed in 2012 and which almost sent Samaras to the political abyss, and with it the New Democracy, no more. Cancellation of results by Alexis Tsipras referendum 2015 year was the largest contribution to destruction of popular trust in politicians. The people of Greece are tired of political games, the endless war of politicians and just want to live in peace. The people do not want a leader, a good “administrator” is enough for them.

Another question is where this hardworking administrator, as well as a tough and unprincipled politician, who in a few days will have in his hands an almost completely controlled parliament, the National Intelligence Service (ΕΥΠ), as well as serious leverage over the Supreme Administrative (Supreme) and Constitutional Courts, and the full support of the President of the Republic, that is, in fact, absolute power, can lead Greece?

The opinion of the author may not reflect the opinion of the editors.

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