Numbers don’t always tell the truth, but they are always interesting. If you break out of the daily life of political confrontation and see its big picture post-colonialwill discover that Greek citizens have always liked to give prime ministers two chances before moving on to the next. The only exception with an electoral victory was O George Papandreou a tumultuous memorandum period when he won 2009But 2011 under the weight of economic development, he left the post of prime minister. Let’s take a closer look at what happened in the 18 post-colonial elections:

Karamanlis – Papandreou

1974 won the election Konstantinos Karamanlisvictory, which was also repeated 1977. 1981 the winner of the election was Andreas Papandreou against Georgios Ralli, a victory that was repeated by 1985. 1989 N.D. led by Konstantinos Mitsotakis won its first victory without forming a government, only to repeat it in 1990 and stay in power until 1993when Andreas Papandreou returned for his final term as prime minister before his death.

Giorgos Papandreou won the 2009 elections, but in 2011, under the weight of a memorandum, he left the post of prime minister.

In 1996 PASOK with a new leader Mr. Kostas Simitis wins re-election and 2000 V PASOK wins his third victory in a row and the second victory of Kostas Simitis, who is in fact the only prime minister who managed to increase his percentage in the second electoral competition. 2004 marked the beginning of an era for Karamanlis, who also won two consecutive victories, winning in 2007 and remaining in power until 2009, when he was defeated by George Papandreou.

In 2012, during a very politically and socially turbulent period, Mr. Antonis Samaras achieves a two-fold advantage in elections in a very short period of time N.D. in elections in May and June, which saw him become prime minister until his defeat in 2015. This was followed by his double electoral victory. Alexis Tsipras V 2015in January and September to win 2019 To Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Explanation

The two terms that voters tend to give prime ministers, according to election analysts, an explanation that citizens believe that in one term the prime minister did not have enough time to show what he really wants to do and where he wants to lead the country, and the respective governments still have “endurance” despite this wear and tear . Hence, the “second chance” rule is given even in extreme circumstances such as 2015 that, despite what the government did in the first half of the year, which led to the closure of banks and the third memorandum, in September 2015, the citizens again handed over to the government of SYRIZA in cooperation with ANEL. That is why the prime minister, who obviously knows history, referred to the “second chance for progress”, as opposed to the “catastrophic” rule of Alexis Tsipras. Elections on May 21, and a second election likely to follow, will show whether the two-term rule is maintained and whether Kyriakos Mitsotakis remains a resident of Maximos.

Election decision

Citizens usually give governments a second chance, but those in power rarely run out of four-year terms. It is much more common practice to go to the polls before the end of the four-year cycle in the government of the country. Often, the decision on when to hold elections is dominated by micropolitical calculations, that is, when holding elections is in the interests of the ruling party. Thus, the four-year term has been used in the past by three governments: the government of N.D. 1977–1981 and the PASOK governments 1985–1989 and 2000–2004. The government of SYRIZA, formed through the September 2015 elections, is very close to the end of its four-year term of office, with the next elections taking place in July 2019, and the upcoming May 21 elections will also be very close to the end of the four-year term. On the contrary, three times in the post-colonial period we have had two election campaigns in the same year: in 1989, 2012 and 2015, all during periods of crisis of the political system.