Which social groups will be targeted? New Democracy going to the polls? Where will self-confidence be judged – what audience will the ruling party’s campaign target and which individuals will “lead” it?

The above key questions, with only a few months left before the polls are due, have begun to be answered and slowly form the final election puzzle.

in Maximos Palace they focus on various social as well as geographic groups that they believe are critical to achieving the ultimate goal of self-sufficiency. This targeting is the result of research and special focus groups that show how the New Democracy should attempt to appeal to specific audiences.

Women make up half of the electorate. “Now the female audience has taken on even more distinct characteristics, as the constant femicide, the #MeToo movement, and the transition to a more emancipated and dynamic generation have also changed voting behavior based on gender. Therefore, a different approach is needed, ”says a sociologist who constantly studies the qualitative indicators of the “K” dimension. Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ latest appearance on Natalia Germanou in a show with entertaining characteristics and a predominantly female audience is the first indication of the means of communication that Megaro Maximos intends to use to win women’s votes.

The second social group that New Democracy will pay a lot of attention to before the elections are private sector workers. The tax cut promised by the Prime Minister before his election has been fully implemented and will become the main content of the slogan “we said it, we did it”.

At the same time, the government will highlight the fact that new jobs have been created and family support has been strengthened by several pieces of legislation.

“The private sector has always been a key core for ND And what has been done will be covered before the elections in the best possible way,” a government official tells K.

But in addition to social categories, the campaign plan will also focus on specific constituencies. Northern Greece, and especially Macedonia, is a geographical area that for S.-Z. traditionally important.

In recent elections in many prefectures, the ruling faction has shown significantly higher electoral results than the national percentages. The natural decrease in the term of office of the government, coupled with a number of other issues – the implementation of the Prespa agreement, a strongly pro-Russian public, escalation during the pandemic – create fears of a possible rise of far-right formations in Northern Greece.

At the same time, in Thessaloniki, the most populous constituency in northern Greece, the demographic composition began to change over the years, moving closer to Athens and especially to the most radical areas of the capital’s center. It is no coincidence that even in 2019, SYRIZA, despite the fact that it recently voted for the Prespa Agreement, received a percentage of almost 32%, and the ND was 4.5 points lower than the all-Russian indicator and reached 35%.

“A’Thessaloniki began to lose its” local “features and more and more reminiscent of Athens,” – says “K” an experienced sociologist. It is characteristic that the last time N.D. reached Thessaloniki, the peak of its share in the territory came in 2004.

The axes of the campaign will be “consistency, continuity and stability” and the dilemma “Mitsotakis or Tsipras”.

For this reason, it is planned to pay attention to Thessaloniki with a focus on projects such as the city metro, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, the imminent start of the flyover, which is the new ring road of Thessaloniki, and road and rail links on the 6th pier.

Epirus is another area that needs special attention. It may not be particularly critical in terms of population, but it remains the region with the highest percentage of poverty in Greece and no development. Even the Mitsotakis government has not solved this age-old problem, generating local discontent that needs to be alleviated ahead of the elections.

As for the campaign, which will “last” until the elections, in addition to individual characteristics that will unfold over time, the central axis will be a tripartite “consistency, continuity and stability.” The ultimate goal is to highlight the comparative advantages of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and New Democracy over the official opposition and its leader, as the Megaros Maximos established the view that the final question would be “Mitsotakis or Tsipras”. National issues will also play a central role in the election campaign, which, by all accounts, is an important advantage of the prime minister over his opponent and, among other things, strongly mobilizes the right-wing audience.

In the battle, indirectly, and not explicitly, the “fear” of the return of SYRIZA will also be mobilized. Almost 15% of the audience do not say they will vote for New Democracy, but seem to be generally positive about Kyriakos Mitsotakis and are not going to move towards SYRIZA. It is essential for the New Democracy to keep the interest of this public “active” until the elections, promoting its work on the one hand, and reminding, on the other, of the work and days of SYRIZA in its own government. “The biggest problem of the official opposition is that 3.5 years after the defeat, it has never reached the centrist public,” says the K sociologist, trying to explain the fact that SYRIZA does not defeat citizens dissatisfied with government policies.

As for the team that will “manage” all of the above, the organizational structure of Megaron Maximos has begun to take shape. In addition to professionals in the field, companies and communications consultants who will play their part, the central administration and the final say in campaigning and communications will have government faces. The electoral program is compiled by the competent head of the department, Haris Theoharis, with the participation of secretary Pavlos Marinakis and under the overall supervision of Akis Skertsov and Tanasis Kontogeorgis. Pavlos Marinakis, who has been more and more involved in the meetings in Maximos lately, was also entrusted with the role of conveying the image of the party in the palace.

The entire press staff is involved in the planning, led by government spokesman Giannis Oikonomu and director of the Prime Minister’s press office, Dimitris Tsiodras.

Giannis Bratakos, on the other hand, is from his position also preparing for the elections, since the final approval of everything is in the office of the prime minister.

The person whose opinion is always important is Thanasis Nesis, a senior associate of the Prime Minister, who, especially in the run-up to the election, will be called to be more active due to his connection to the ND base.

Finally, Thodoris Livanios participates in public opinion polls, especially in the critical area, because, as Lyndon Johnson said, in politics one must first of all be able to count.

Women

The questionnaires describe the change in gender voting behavior as “a transition to a new, emancipated and more dynamic generation”.
N.D. tries to adjust his message accordingly.

Employees

The government sees private sector workers as a privileged audience, who will be presented as an achievement with the implementation of all announcements to reduce taxes and contributions, in the logic of “we said it, we did it.”

North

Northern Greece’s largest constituency, Thessaloniki 1, is no longer N.D.’s “castle”. It is assumed that the pre-election efforts should be focused on the capital, as well as other regions of Macedonia.