Post by Wayne Hall on Nov 30, 2021 21:46:48 GMT -5
Present-day Greek politics is largely a battle of family dynasties, specifically the families Karamanlis, Papandreou and Mitsotakis. The elder Constantine Karamanlis ushered Greece through the Cold War period of the fifties and sixties up until the coming of the military junta in 1967, and then after it with it the restoration of "democracy" in 1974, including legalization of the Communist Party (KKE). His nephew of the same name also had a turn at the helm. George Papandreou was a important player in the period during and after the defeat of Nazi Germany and Britain's (and then the US) turn to play boss with the post-war defeat of the Communists in Greece. His son Andreas succeeded Karamanlis in the post-junta period and led Greece during the eighties and early nineties through his PASOK Socialist Party, with a break after the collapse of the Communist bloc in 1989, following which his arch-rival Constantinos Mitsotakis took over for a while. Andreas' son George was levered into the Prime Ministership in 2009 having succeeded as Greek Socialist leader the technocrat Constantinos Simitis, who had governed from 1996 to 2004. Constantinos Mitsotakis became Greek Prime Minister in 1990, being toppled again by PASOK in 1993. His son Kyriakos Mitsotakis succeeded Alexis Tsipras as Prime Minister in 2019 following the defeat of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government.
The dynasties game continues into the present, as George Papandreou, though extremely unpopular, remains a candidate for leadership of the post-PASOK Greek party Movement for Change (KINAL). He has not been willing to compete in public speech-making with other candidates for the KINAL leadership. Doubtless any such public appearance would be degraded by petty bickering. Another feature, in the present COVID "pandemic" era, is the premature death of KINAL politicians. The former KINAL leader Fofi Gennimata, daughter of influential Papandreou lieutenant George Gennimatas, who died "from a relapse of her cancer" in October 2021 at the age of 57, continued the family dynasty tradition in Greek politics. Another ambitious KINAL politician in the northern Greek city of Ioannina, Margarita Zikou, died of heart failure in November 2021 at the age of 48 to conclude a history of berating fellow citizens for COVID "vaccine hesitancy".
The dynasties game continues into the present, as George Papandreou, though extremely unpopular, remains a candidate for leadership of the post-PASOK Greek party Movement for Change (KINAL). He has not been willing to compete in public speech-making with other candidates for the KINAL leadership. Doubtless any such public appearance would be degraded by petty bickering. Another feature, in the present COVID "pandemic" era, is the premature death of KINAL politicians. The former KINAL leader Fofi Gennimata, daughter of influential Papandreou lieutenant George Gennimatas, who died "from a relapse of her cancer" in October 2021 at the age of 57, continued the family dynasty tradition in Greek politics. Another ambitious KINAL politician in the northern Greek city of Ioannina, Margarita Zikou, died of heart failure in November 2021 at the age of 48 to conclude a history of berating fellow citizens for COVID "vaccine hesitancy".