02.10.2009AGOS
Evren Dede
Greek voters will cast their ballots on Sunday, October 4th, in line with Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis’ decision to hold early elections.
The decision to hold early elections came as no suprise. In the past year, the possibility of early elections was described and analyzed in Greek media and the general sentiment was “Let’s get this over with.”
Due to the current coalition based on the dual government of New Democracy (Nea Dimokratia – ND) and the Greek Socialist Party (Panheladiko Sosyalistiko Komma – PASOK), PASOK is expected to win the election rather than ND. Recent poll results show that a significant percentage already see the PASOK Leader Yorgos Papandreou as prime minister.
The nationwide turn towards PASOK can also be seen in Western Thrace. In all elections to date, socialist PASOK has been dominant everywhere in Western Thrace except the Evros province. Even in the 2007 election when a nationwide majority voted for ND, PASOK came in first in the provinces of Rodophe and Xanthi.
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The two members of parliament elected to the Greek Parliament by the Turkish minority in 2007, Ahmet Haciosman from Rodophe province and Cetin Mandaci from Xanthi province, were both from the PASOK roster. The ND candidate in Rodophe, Ilhan Ahmet, had won 14,172 votes, losing by a whisker.
A similar situation exists this year. Most likely, Ahmet Haciosman and Cetin Mandaci will be re-elected as MPs in the October 4 election and represent the minority population in the Greek Parliament.
One thing is clear about this region: the party that gets the most votes from the minority population becomes the leading party in both Rodophe and Xanthi. This means that getting the minority vote is of crucial importance for all parties, resulting in a serious struggle in the region. Another scenario is the possibility of three minority MPs getting elected, which seems conceivable considering the propotion of the minority electorate in Western Thrace. Nonetheless I don’t find this too likely given that the minority votes are split between different candidates.
Although I have predicted here that the two minority MPs who won the last election are likely to win in the this one as well, let’s have a quick look at the other minority candidates.
A total of 14 minority candidates from Western Thrace will take part in the election. ND’s candidate list for Rodophe includes former MP Ilhan Ahmet, who ran in the previous election, and Ahmet Amet Idris, a businessmen. PASOK’s list for the same province includes incumbent Ahmet Haciosman, and Rıdvan Kocamumin, assistant governor for the Rodophe-Xanthi Enlarged Provinces, who ran in the previous election. The list of the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) includes former MP Dr. Mustafa Mustafa as well as economist Celalettin Yurtcu. Running under the Greek Communist Party (KKE) banner is businessman Faik Faik. On PASOK’s list of candidates in Xanthi are incumbent Dr. Cetin Mandaci and psychologist Seval Osmanoglu. The Xanthi candidates representing ND are Aysel Zeybek, who was denaturalized along with her family in 1984 but had her citizenship reinstated after taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights, and contractor Ahmet Bodur. SYRIZA’s Xanthi province candidates are Hasan Malkoc, president of the Xanthi Municipality’s Equality List, and pharmacist Huseyin Zeybek. KKE’s Xanthi list features contractor Hasan Efendi as a candidate.
AGOS
02.10.2009
