PASOK party

It is all but certain that the election for the leadership of the socialist PASOK party will be decided in a runoff.

It is also almost certain that PASOK will be the de facto main opposition to the ruling New Democracy, even though it is still lagging SYRIZA in the number of MPs, with 32 to 35. But further defections from SYRIZA could change that.

The leadership race for the opposition socialist PASOK party went underway Sunday, with voting starting at 7 a.m. at 950 polling stations across Greece.

Polls close at 7 p.m., although voting may be extended if turnout is high, especially in Athens and Thessaloniki. 

More than 167,814 citizens had voted by 2 p.m.

It has been 50 years since the founding declaration of New Democracy on October 4, 1974. The declaration was signed solely by Konstantinos Karamanlis, just two and a half months after his return to Greece, following 11 years of self-imposed “exile” in Paris. Thus, the party was established, which, along with PASOK, became the two main pillars of the post-dictatorial Greek Republic.

Developments within the main opposition SYRIZA party will be in the spotlight this week after its leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, lost a no-confidence vote over the weekend.

The tensions within the party's central committee were intense, further deepening the turmoil that has plagued SYRIZA since its resounding electoral defeat last year.

The socialist PASOK party celebrates 50 years since its foundation and, having escaped the existential danger it faced about a decade ago during the Greek debt crisis, it is breathlessly heading for an internal showdown that is absolutely certain to define its future.

A week of political tensions lies ahead with the impact of the European elections continuing to resonate across the three big political parties that failed to reach their goals.

Mayor of Athens Haris Doukas hinted that he plans to run for the leadership of the Socialist PASOK party in a social media post on Thursday. 

In a Facebook post Doukas stated that PASOK can defeat the ruling New Democracy party, just as he did in the mayoral election in Athens, while repeating the phrase "let's go."

The aftermath of the EU election results will continue to dominate the country's political agenda, a week after the ballots showed that none of the big three parties reached their stated goals.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday and sent a message against complacency and arrogance during the first cabinet meeting over the weekend.

Seven parties won seats in the European Parliament in Sunday's election, which showed significant gains for Greece's far-right parties, according to official results released on Monday.

Nikos Androulakis, whose socialist PASOK party is currently polling in third place ahead of next month's European Parliament elections, sought to deconstruct leftist SYRIZA opposition leader Stefanos Kasselakis on Wednesday, portraying him as a puppet manipulated by government-controlled media in an effort to weaken the opposition.