“IN election of 81 I was 6 years old. I remember people panicking at home. All the friends of my parents gathered, leftists, but who wanted Andreas to come out. They put me to bed, but I could not sleep because of the festivities and screams. At some point, my mom comes to see what I’m doing and covers for me. “Mom, let me ask you,” I said, “what did you vote for?” She did not immediately answer, but finally leaned over and, before kissing me on the forehead, said:KKEbut don’t tell grandpa.” Grandpa was a fanatical carpenter, but I didn’t know that even then. Also, at the time, grandpa lived in the apartment downstairs and logically heard voices from our house. That was the moment my mind started a lot of confusion about the left and my family that bothered me and still does.” The most effective tactic was silence, an attempt to avoid substantive discussion. However, I remember secretly rejoicing in some subsequent elections that N.D. Grandpa is happy too.

“I did what I celebrate”

That period was the source of many traumas. K. H. recalls that election of 81 it was October 18, the day before her birthday. He would have been 8. “We always celebrated together as a family, but at that time quarrels began. My dad was left alone to vote for Rally, and everyone else left. PASOK. We spent election night alone, in isolation. The next day I went to school with sweets and also contributed to the PASOK victory celebration. I wanted to belong.”

MF will not forget them 89 election. “My husband was abroad and me and the kids were at a friends house in Nea Smyrni, where most of them were PASOK. At some point, I decide to return home to Chalandri, but at the height of Kallimarmaro, the road was blocked by supporters of the New Democracy. I remember I was a little scared because there were so many people and they were clapping their caps in celebration. To let you through, you also had to hum rhythmically. Hey horns, what should I do? Otherwise, we would still be there.”

On the night of the elections in another house, the parents of M.M. frantically searched for a heart pill. “My dad had an arrhythmia when he saw the results and we all got scared. At that time I was young, but I understood that he was worried about his work – he was the general secretary in the ministry.

“Damn Night Mama”

The OP remembers the PASOK flags on the balcony of his apartment during the ’89 elections. Her mother was organized in the local organization “Sepolion”, “a woman tall, thin, kind to the point that she does not walk, long fingers with red-painted nails, and calm movements.” Dom never heard her swear. “That night, the mother was out all day as a voting agent. As an elementary school student, I stayed up all night, but this night was allowed as an exception. I remember waiting for her to come home and being afraid she would be upset. They turned the keys in the doors. She came pale, the whole family was mute, and the mother, who never sweared, who never allowed us to swear, who only our father had such a privilege, raised her once polite and amiable middle finger, looked at my father and said: “We ate it from Mr. … George.” Silent we fell asleep, what silent, scratching.

“Make the Old Woman Vote”

Makis Fundoulis remembers the October 1981 elections, in which he had to return to Ikaria to vote as a non-citizen. “We, non-residents, went to vote in our villages on ships, planes, buses, the party paid for this. In Ikaria, the capitalists crashed with the Aegion of the shipping company owned by Adelfoi Agapitos, and other democratic forces with the popular base of Samhaina ANTESI (Anonymous Society of Nautical Tourism of Samos of Ikaria). I went down to Piraeus with my ticket to “Samaina”, but I had an accident, you see, cooperative. Analysts have explained to us that this is the finger of the Beloved. Complex things. The others entered the Aegeon with their card, gentlemen. Then yes, there were political differences, but we did not swear. A friend took paper for “Aegeon”, it was a photocopy. We went to the copy machine and started making copies. With them we entered the Aegeon and reached Agios. The trip was a holiday, we took this election without a doubt.”

Exit polls were then conducted by port staff with notepads in which they noted how many ships had arrived. “Things got a little confused that year because Aegeon brought in not only new democrats, but also pasoccidides, but also kukueds, and kirkos, and muludes.” Again, the results were accurate.

The telephone number of Mr. Funduli’s house differed in number from the number of her “cube”. New Republic. “They called my mother, who became a Pasok woman from a Venizel woman. She knew something was wrong, but she didn’t mind because she knew what was going on in the square. The phone continued to ring. “Go, take the old woman from Kuduma and take her to vote. WHO? Emerald. Don’t worry, we got her, she’s fine. Do you know others? Then she notified the contact, who was a trust, for further … Well, you don’t know how to call, but you also want to call the government, the woman thought. This is how Election Day went.” He himself remembers that at Agios Kirykos in Ikaria a pig was slaughtered when victory was assured. “I do not want it!” the audience shouted, commenting on Ralli’s historic campaign speech at the time. “I would like to see people of this level in politics,” Mr. Makis comments today.

“Unfortunately everything will change”

LK will not forget the elections he held as a soldier. It was 2004when Kostas Karamanlis’ New Republic came out. “I was in a forgotten camp in Chania. In the morning report, the low-ranking man who assigned the work to the soldiers looked very upset to inform us that now, unfortunately, everything will change, since PASOK is gone. Apparently, neither the watchtowers have changed, nor the sweepers, nor the utility ones. Nothing changes in the army.” He also remembers the officer who proudly declared that he voted for the “People’s Orthodox Alert” and George Karatsaferis. “The soldiers commented that he was a fascist and extreme. How could we know what was coming.”

“We used to get together and count”

You brush off the dust from your memory, returning to the campaign nights of the past, when the heartbeat lasted until the morning. “I remember how friends and relatives would gather at home and mark on papers and count,” says 73-year-old M.S. “Usually not, we noted on the ballots. Even before we listened to the results on the radio, television came to us late, after the post-colonial era. According to him, anyway, on the night of the elections there was tension, but no fights. “This climate did not exist everywhere. There were also KKE, PASOK and New Democracy voters in our family. Everyone cursed me. I voted for PASOK, but not for Andrea. The Pasoko cursed me as a Social Democrat. Center for the Homeless for Life.

XI remembers elections on 15 September. She invited people into the house, most of whom, like her, were Potamis. “I did a bunch of things to treat them. We agreed to meet just before the exit polls. None of us ate a bite.” In the elections, Potami reduced its percentages, while Golden Dawn established itself as a third party.