What shocked me most in the results of the Greek elections in May 2012, was not the vote political parties with more radical philosophies managed to obtain. In that respect, Greece showed not to be an exception from other troubled European democracies.
Hardshift triggers protest and even those people who managed to detect and seriously think about some concrete intentions or measures in the election programmes of the various political parties in Greece, will have at least considered whether the time had come for more radical measures.
Frankly , I also doubt how surprised really Europe's political leaders said they were with these election results, after they so urgently sought to convince the then Greek prime minister in November 2011 not to seek a referendum pretty much on the same key issues.
What suprised me was an abstention of over 35 %.
We have got used to high abstention rates in most individual European countries, not to mention the enormous absence of voters in elections for the European Parliament (57% in 2009). At such rates, I would have to agree with those analists that claim all political parties are loosers.
However, I would have thought that for the Greek electorate this time would be different, a unique moment in recent history where placing a vote would matter, even if it serves for one's own conscious possibly with very little else to hold onto.
An urgent lesson for any politician ?
No comments:
Post a Comment