Views in favor of cooperative governments are usually associated with simple proportionality, the adoption of which in the post-colonial period has always been ideologically motivated. Only pasok And SYRIZA they legislated it in 1989 and 2016 respectively.

However, the cooperative schemes that emerged from this proved to be short-lived. Thus, in the period 1989-90. three elections in ten months. This is due, among other things, to the country’s confrontational political culture and its strong clientele tradition, which exacerbates tensions between government partners, causing political instability.

Those cooperation governments that had prime ministers of “universal recognition” and regardless of simple proportionality also proved to be short-lived. The Giannetakis government lasted for four months, the ecumenical Zolota for about five, and the Papademos government for six.

However, those coalitions that arose as a result of the “strengthened” proportional voting in the conditions of the economic crisis lasted longer. The government of Samaras-Venizelos (originally also Kouvelis) ruled for 31 months and the government of Tsipras-Kammenou for 48, until January 2019 (between January and July 2019, SYRIZA actually ruled independently).

Their endurance is inexplicable.

At that time, the confidence of public opinion in the independent majority was shaken. The fateful mandate of the people in the double elections of 2012 and 2015 led to cooperation.

In addition, the fear of spending on elections discouraged – up to a point – the mood of the intra-government split. Because “reinforced”, proportional to the bonus for the first installment, distributed the seats disproportionately among the partners of the government. Thus, the possible dissolution of the coalition will lead to early elections in which the largest partner will be preferred over the smallest one.

In addition, intrastate frictions were then comparatively less. Because the country was in the Memorandum regime under the suffocating control of the Troika and was obliged to fulfill obligations in order to pay loan payments. Otherwise, he risked default and greksit. Under such dramatic circumstances, the fear of catastrophe has partially deactivated the confrontational and clientelistic elements of our political culture. It is perhaps no coincidence that the breakup between SYRIZA and ANEL occurred a few months after leaving the third program.

At the same time, the choice of the main characters was distinguished by political realism. Samaras and Venizelos have shown responsibility and willingness to reach a political consensus. For their part, the leadership of SYRIZA and ANEL, within their own political framework, functioned (for a long time) with political consensus.

Based on the foregoing, the question arises as to how feasible a functional cooperative government is today. Not much after the first round of the “simple” counterpart. There development is rather predetermined. After all, poll correlations have not changed radically since the Tempe tragedy. And moreover, as if there is no field of significant rapprochement either for politics or for the person of the Prime Minister.

Thus, the question concerns the future of the second elections, which will be held with a “strengthened” proportional representation.

It seems that the chances of a working cooperative scheme are rather small.

First, the preference for self-governing majorities remains strong, cumulatively reaching 41% versus 47% for coalition governments of any composition (Pulse 16/03).

The fear of disorderly bankruptcy also disappeared and the country withdrew from the memorandums. Therefore, there is now a high probability of a stronger manifestation of the conflict and clientelistic characteristics of the political system, which would cause paralyzing internal tensions within cooperative governments.

Even the political relations of the main political “players” are at the bottom. The crack created by wiretapping between Androulakis and Mitsotakis has not yet been closed. At the same time, there is a lack of trust between PASOK and SYRIZA, as the political “wounds” opened by the economic crisis have not healed.

Of course, the accelerated formation of a coalition government is not ruled out if self-reliance does not appear even after the second round. However, for now, at least, there is little chance of its extension.

* Panos Koliastassis is a PhD in Political Science at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and lecturer at the University of Peloponnese. His book Constant Campaigning in Greece in a Time of Crisis: The Premierships of Samaras, Tsipras and Mitsotakis was published by Palgrave.