The priorities, and the secrets of Athos

ND, SYRIZA, PASOK turn focus on specific constituencies as some monasteries show their colors

Greece's political parties are embarking once again on the campaign trail, deploying a more surgical approach and with their attention turning to specific constituencies.

Ruling New Democracy is expected to focus on northern Greece, where nationalist Greek Solution and the religious-nationalist Niki parties have been flying high.

Tellingly, a block of monasteries in the remote community of Mount Athos, which had closed their doors to vaccinated pilgrims during the pandemic, are reportedly throwing in their lot with Niki.

It is also no coincidence that Niki leader Dimitris Natsios, a theologian and teacher, claimed on election day that it also had the “spiritual cover” of Mt Athos. Although the Holy Community has insisted it has nothing to do with this particular party, or any other, Niki has developed a network of contacts in the fundamentalist wing of the Athonite state, and they are now instrumentalizing electorally. These include a bloc of pro-Russian monasteries.

The higher-than-expected number of votes received by Niki and Greek Solution in northern Greece has also had an adverse impact on the ruling conservatives. Firstly, they led ND to lower percentages than its nationwide results. Despite its nationwide dominance, there were areas in the north that did not achieve a similar result.

The second problem, and perhaps the most important, is that the Niki party came out of nowhere on the eve of the election with its hard-line positions on Orthodoxy, and came very close to entering Parliament, registering 2.9% nationwide. This means that if it manages to pass the 3% threshold, combined with the possible entry of Zoe Konstantopoulou's Freedom Sailing, then the bar of an outright majority for ND will also rise, even up to 39%. This will depend on the overall percentage received by the parties that are left out of Parliament. Therefore, continuous tours of the area are expected both by ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis and party officials.

For their part, SYRIZA and PASOK are turning their attention to regions where the difference between them was small, as well as to areas with a strong working-class element and in Attica. Looking to bounce back, SYRIZA is targeting areas where there is room for improvement, with its eye on specific audiences, including the grassroots of society, the unemployed and low wage earners.