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The Greeks are conservatives inclined to revolt, a survey says

11 July 2011 / 19:07:55  GRReporter
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Public opinion trends researchers are despaired and surrender. In their study, they register the anger of citizens at political parties and their leaderships as well as at all senior officials, whether members of parliament and ministers or rectors of universities. At the same time, there are trends for general denial due to the continuing uncertainty about the economy, employment and income. However, the answers to various questions are contradictory and inconsistent, and represent a nervous, uncoordinated, disorganized society that is willing to accept the best and the worst.

The citizens seem to be between the extremes influenced by conservatism and "revolutionary" attitudes. The results of the study Kapa Research conducted for the Sunday edition of To Vima newspaper show a strong dichotomy, where conservatism and revolt coexist in the same persons. During this period, the Greeks seem completely confused and influenced by the uncertainty in every detail of their life and the absolute uncertainty for the future.

They are inclined to confront any kind of power; they are not angry at the public denigration of the members of parliament, but are against university asylum at the same time. They do not tolerate the "eternal" students; they are angry at government officials, they want the appointments in the public sector to be reduced and they want even dismissals. They are angry at the "closed" professions; they threaten the taxi drivers and reject all "guilds".
 
The participants in the Kapa Research study determined the reactions against members of parliament and ministers as "spontaneous" actions. Most of them do not believe that the abuses come from the radical left coalition SYRIZA. We could say that generally the Greeks are of the attitude "against the system" to the extent that they abandon even their favourite football teams, requiring the decrease in the rankings for those clubs involved in the match-fixing scandal.

Almost 50% of the participants in the study respond negatively to the vote on the austerity plan. They oppose the lawmakers who voted for it, and 58.1% of the respondents believe that their choice based mainly on the struggle for political survival than anything else. They perceive the refusal of the opposition leader Antonis Samaras to support the austerity plan as positive, but in percentage 68.4 believe that his position was due to political motives.

67.6% of the citizens support the early elections if the latest economic measures do not give positive results until September, but at the same time, nearly 80% of them are unhappy that the Syntagma Square protests stopped after the recent heavy clashes. 61.4% of the respondents believe the attacks against members are spontaneous, and 49.6% approve them. However, almost 70% agree with the liberalization of the market of taxi services, 50% agree with university reforms. Half of the respondents approve the introduction of managers in the high schools. Most impressive is the fact that this radicalized society approves the abolition of university asylum – 80% and 55% support the dismissal of the unnecessary staff in the public sector.

In an interview with To Vima newspaper, the person in charge of policy analysis at Kapa Research Gerassimos Roudzounis states that the majority of respondents are possessed by the syndrome of "hatred of reality," typical for societies experiencing states of decay. According to researchers, "the dynamics of the destructive reaction arises from the uncertainty of tomorrow and the concept that any effort by the government or the opposition is unable to produce results." This nihilism gives rise to "blind" reactions, to politically incorrect mobilizations and the desire for universal collision with the system. At the risk of its fall the majority wants to drag every kind of organization with it. If this desire prevails it is clear that it will be the biggest threat to the political system.

The results of the study of the dynamics of the parties are indicative of the trends of negation which dominate the current Greek society. Asked directly "Who would you vote for if the election is next Sunday," 17.8% voted for New Democracy and just one percent more voted for PASOK. The results show that the existing economic, social and political atmosphere does not allow any of the two major parties to win the elections alone.

35% of the participants did not respond which party they would support. It is double the percentage of New Democracy and PASOK, which together reach between 25-27%. This means that after the next elections, there will be nine parties in parliament. Researchers warn that the next election contest have to be organized very well to be able to cope with the reactions that will cause the statutory +50 seats bonus for the party with the highest number of votes.

 

Tags: SocietyPoliticsStudyConservatismRevoltUncertaintyParties
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