PASOK towards the 2nd round: Androulakis – Doukas looking for allies, a debate is not certain yet

From “all against all” to “all-to-all” communications, the summit battle in PASOK is shifting in the final 24 hours before the second-round polls that will determine the winner of the election.

Since the day after the first round, a … barrage of friendship attacks from the two gladiators, Androulakis and Doukas to the four co-candidates and to other executives began, which continues with undiminished intensity and speed, both from them and from their staffs with the sole aim of broader partnerships and alliances in the internal party field. While the two gladiators are attempting with their public and successive interventions to secure the greatest possible support from the “pool” of voters of the first round, their associates are making frequent phone calls to party officials all over Greece and organizing the latest and crucial actions. But it is also the candidates themselves who spend time in private communications to “lock in” allies especially from the people who chose in the first round, Pavlos Geroulanos and Anna Diamantopoulou – the two candidates who were within a stone’s throw of Harry Doukas in terms of percentages.

Paul Geroulanos was not the only one to receive a phone call from Androulakis and Doukas the day after the election; but he was certainly the first to make it public that he would meet with them, and in parliament to discuss the next day. Anna Diamantopoulou also listened to the gladiators and their arguments on the other end of the telephone line; it is said that the former Commissioner and Minister sticks to the “letter and spirit” of her statement on the evening of the first round, without this however meaning that she does not accept suggestions from her supporters to “photograph” a specific choice in the next few hours. Michalis Katrinis has made it clear that he will not ask his voters to make one choice or the other, while Nadia Giannakopoulou has so far avoided any statement or “nod”, although many believe that her rivalry with Androulakis is leading her supporters to support Doukas.

At the same time, the debate is up in the air, as the representatives of the gladiators agreed on the format and topics, but yesterday’s meeting in Charilaou Trikoupis ended without any “white smoke” on the day of the debate. And the remaining days are not long. However, the two sides essentially adopted the “logic” of organizing the debate of the six PASOK leadership candidates before the first round and for the Androulakis-Doukas duel. They did not, however, reach an agreement on the ‘when’. Stefania Mourelatou and Vangelis Tsogkas, i.e. the representatives of Mr. Androulakis proposed a debate for Thursday or Friday with the commitment that they will make an effort to change the scheduling of the event of the current leader (and candidate) if Friday is chosen. Wednesday was in fact “crossed out” as a possible day as Doukas has a meeting of the Municipal Council today and Androulakis has scheduled a rally in Pyrgos Ilia.

The representatives of Doukas, Andrianna Mangania and Panagiotis Vlachos also stressed after the meeting that: “The format of the debate was agreed with Androulakis’ staff, with 7 thematic sections, following the model of the previous debate between the 6 candidates for the PASOK internal party elections. For our part, we asked to add a section on the increased cost of living, an issue of primary importance to citizens, and to highlight the debate on the role of PASOK in the coming day. Regarding the date of the debate we made it clear that our side is available on all 3 days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) and we are waiting for the response of the Androulakis side”. The Doukas side further expressed their concern regarding the scenario of the debate taking place tomorrow, arguing that less people will watch it as the Greek national team is playing the England national team at Wembley for the Nations League. The representatives of Androulakis underlined the asterisk for Friday, saying that they will ask their organizational team for an opinion on whether the event can be held at another time in Thessaloniki. But those in the know predict that as the hourglass of time empties, the staff of the PASOK leadership contenders will make announcements in the next few hours about “whether or not they want a debate after all.”

In the staff of Pavlos Geroulanos the word “we continue” gives duration to the mobility of his members and friends towards the battle of the second round and towards the race from the day after the internal party elections. The leadership candidate who lost by about 800 votes to Doukas with a video rallying cry addressed his voters last night and focused on the goal of PASOK’s victory in the national elections. Earlier he had successive one-on-ones with Androulakis and Doukas to whom he put forward seven proposals, reiterating his view that he is against the mentality of “guiding” voters towards the second round. In his remarks, he spoke of “an extremely interesting discussion with both contenders about the PASOK of the next day, how to open it up and how to prepare it for the next day.” He noted that they asked him to meet and he responded and when asked whether he would support either candidate he explained: “I answered that on Sunday night, nothing has changed, the voters have their own will, they will express it at the ballot box. It is important to participate; even if they are not happy with the result of the first round they should go and vote.” Regarding the discussion of holding a debate between the second round gladiators, Geroulanos argued. There are impressions left from the first debate, they can be better printed. There was agreement on many things, to make PASOK more attractive, to talk to more layers of society.”

With no choice heading into the second round, meanwhile, many PASOK executives around Greece remain without a choice, carefully examining the dilemma of the ballot and how Androulakis and Doukas respond to it. “Let’s continue steadily upwards” says Androulakis; “let’s change now” suggests Doukas to the members and friends who turned out en masse at the polls on 6 October. Mass participation is a key objective for the second round as well, since it will further strengthen PASOK’s position and image in the political scene, as well as “legitimize” the winner to proceed with wide-ranging changes to strengthen the forces that will be called upon to fight multiple battles in society. Their bet is that the number of participants in the first round (of 300 thousand) will maintain their interest in the events in PASOK until the end – in the logic that at least two out of three will listen and be convinced of the need to participate in the second “half”.

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