Greek Regional and municipal elections: Significant increase for the Communist Party

Statement published by Communist party of Greece

• Nationwide the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) came close to 11%
• The KKE was the only party which saw an increase in its percentage of the vote (+3.3%) and in actual votes (+75,000) in relation to last year’s parliamentary elections (2009)

On the 7^th of November the first round of the regional and municipal elections was held, which took place after the administrative reforms which merged the 1300 municipalities to form 325 and the 52 counties to form 13 regions,. This was the result of the merger of local government bodies, which was enforced by the “Kallikratis” plan,approved by the social democratic parliamentary majority, which aside from the merger of the municipalities into fewer and larger units and the replacement of the prefectures by regions, will lead to new and deep anti-people changes.

The KKE took part in the elections with the lists of “People’s Rally”, because in Greece the direct participation of parties in local elections is forbidden. “People’s Rally” participated in the elections of all the 13 regions of our country, and in 260 municipalities which cover all the major urban centres and the majority of the country. There were thousands of candidates on the lists of “People’s Rally”, which were headed by well-known cadre of the KKE, of the All-workers Militant Front (PAME), The All Farmers’ Militant Rally (PASY), The Greek Anti-monopoly Rally of the Self-employed (PASEBE), the Students’ Struggle Front (MAS), The Women’s Organization of Greece (OGE), the Greek Committee for International Détente and Peace (EEDYE) etc.

These elections took on an intensely political character, taking into consideration that they came after a period of tough and large-scale class struggles against the anti-people measures which the social democratic government of PASOK, together with the EU and the IMF, imposed on the people. Struggles in which the KKE was at the forefront and which were led by the class-oriented labour-trade union movement, PAME.

Some of the main results and the political assessment of the KKE

Regions (arranged in order of the percentage of the KKE from the highest to the lowest)	KKE (votes)	KKE (%)
Northern Aegean	16,877	15.74
Ionian Islands	17,266	15.30
Attiki	202,612	14.43
Thessaly	57,831	13,10
Western Greece	43,399	11.14
Central Greece	35,909	10.87
Central Macedonia	88,631	9.08
Southern Aegean	15,401	9.04
Western Macedonia	15,851	8.22
Eastern Macedonia and Thrace	27,852	7.74
Peloponnese	25,660	6.80
Crete	22,843	6.93
Nationwide result	588,898	10.85%

It should be taken into account that just 1 year ago; in the parliamentary elections the KKE had received 517,154 votes, 7.54%, while 4 years ago in the local election of 2006, the overall result of its election lists in the 52 counties was 479,812 votes and 7.22%.

The KKE specifically notes that

• there was an increase of +3.3 (+75,000 votes) in relation with the parliamentary elections of 2009
• There was an increase of +3.6 (110,000 votes) in relation with the prefecture elections of 2006.

The KKE had 40 councilors elected to the regional councils and over 500 municipal councillors. In two municipalities (Ikaria and Petroupolis) the candidates of the KKE got through to the second round of the elections. In some municipalities (e.g. Ilion, Korydallos) the candidates who were supported by the KKE came second, but the first-placed candidate got over 50% of the vote, so there will be no second round.

The Central Committee of the KKE met on the 8^th of November 2010 to discuss the following issue “The first assessment of the results of the first round of the elections for the local state organs at a regional and municipal level”. The CC will elaborate these first conclusions after the second round of the elections, It will give them to the party organizations for discussion, to its friends, supporters, allies and as widely as possible, so that the final conclusions can be formed.

1/Concerning the strengthening of the KKE

As was noted in its statement, the CC of the KKE mentions that“The results of the first round the lists, which were supported nationwide by the KKE with the title “People’s Rally”, were shown clearly to be an upcoming force winning thousands of new votes, and thus the it has been recognized that the Party is the only party which increased its votes and percentage. With the data which has been gathered so far, in comparison with the parliamentary elections of 2009, there has been an increase of 75,000 votes. Nearly 11%, a 3.3% increase. The CC is of the opinion that regardless of the votes, the number of people who have a positive opinion of the positions and assessments of the KKE , who are interested to learn about the our alternative political proposal, who recognize the militant political role and contribution of the party, has increased”.

At the same time, the CC of the KKE “thanks and salutes all those men and women who for the first time voted for the lists which were supported by the KKE, who withstood the various intimidating dilemmas, the provocative blackmailing and the various independent lists which were supported by the ruling class. This important increase in votes gives us new responsibilities and duties. We understand that necessity for us to meet the challenge of organizing the struggle and rallying the people and the workers, to express the discontent and appetite for struggle of wider popular masses which appreciate our role and contribution, while at the same time having their own views on various matters”.

The CC of the KKE considers that “ the increase of the strength in the local elections has a certain dynamism, signals a new path for the rallying of wider popular forces against the polices which have led to a deterioration of the life of the people, have contributed to the sharpening of the crisis and have led to the putting together of the barbaric Memorandum which will continue during the crisis as well as during the recovery, which when it arrives will be anemic and will be followed by a new wave of crises. The current for antimonopoly and anti-imperialist rallying has strengthened, the alternative proposal for a solution which has people’s power, the people’s economy as its goal has gained ground.

2/ The other political forces

The fact that no other political force increased its votes, apart from the KKE, is a significant political fact

• The electoral influence of the governing social democratic PASOK from 43.92%, which it had in the elections of 2009, was reduced to 34.67% (a fall of about 10%, the loss of over 1 million votes)
• The opposition conservative ND received 32.82% (about 1% less in relation to last year’s result and the loss of around half a million votes).
• • The opportunist current (SYN/SYRIZA) is undergoing an ideological-political crisis, and during the previous period showed its unreliability, collaborating with in various municipalities with the social democrats of PASOK and supporting choices of the PASOK government, received 4.5%, when in last year’s elections received 4.6% and lost about 50,000 votes in comparison to last year’s elections.
• The nationalist and anticommunist party LAOS received 4% (about 1.5% and 150000 votes less than in 2009). It should be noted that in three regions where this party did not have its own candidate it supported ND and in one region PASOK.
• The “Ecologists” received 2.9%, a small increase in comparison to 2009, but it did lose actual votes (20,000 less).

As the CC of the KKE underlined in its statement that “PASOK suffered a significant reduction in its forces, while ND could not convince the Greek people that it constitutes a pro-people opposition to the government, despite its maneuvering in order to promote an alleged anti-memorandum character. The condemnation of PASOK is clear and unquestionable, despite the fact that it used in the pre-election period “alternate” lists in certain instances, in order to “steal” votes, to hide its decline, utilizing at the same time the old slanders concerning a united anti-pasok front of all the political forces of the opposition”. In addition the CC of the KKE “calls on those who wished to express their opposition to ND and PASOK by voting for other lists to think hard because this vote does not provide the political solution, since the oppositional rhetoric of these parties does not touch the center of the strategy of the main parties but certain aspects and tactics which they use. The actual contradiction in the economy, in society more generally, is that between the monopolies, the interests of capital on the one side and the working people on the other.

3/ Important qualitative characteristics of the results

Municipality	KKE
Athens	13.73%
Thessalonica	9.50%
Piraeus	14.79%
Patras	16.42%
Irakleio	12.13%
Larisa	13.68%
Volos	15.23%
Peristeri	12.52%
Kallithea	18.40%
Corfu	26.90%
Nikaia-Renti	18.38%
Lesvos	13.25%
Keratsini-Drapetsona	19.36%
Aigaleo	16.90%
Glyfada	9.56%
Ilioupoli	13.33%
Nea Smyrni	10.63%
Halandri	15.00%
Ilion-Kamatero	20.16%
Zografou	12.83%

The significant support which the KKE received not only nationwide but especially in major urban centres, where the working class of Greece lives and works, is of interest. Something which constitutes an especially important element for the KKE, the party of the working class.

The KKE received a significant increase invotes in large municipalities where large numbers of workers and popular strata reside (See the table above).It is of particular importance that we note the increase in the significant electoral influence of the KKE in Attiki (14.4% from 10.2%), which includes the capital Athens, Piraeus, as well as the industrial zones around the capital. In the Attiki area 4 million people reside and work. In 67 municipalities in Greece (out of the 260 where “People’s Rally” participated) the KKE received more than 11% of the vote.

The CC of the KKE notes in its statement that “the increase in votes and percentage of the KKE contains important qualitative elements; the increase was larger on average in the major urban centres and in the large regions. The basic element of this increase was in the popular and working class neighbourhoods, in areas where farmers and small businessmen have intense problems, in areas where there are even better preconditions for the the socio-political front of the working class in alliance with the self-employed and the small-medium farmers to be shaped and to acquire solid foundations.

4/The phenomenon of abstention

Over the past decades Greece has had a high level of voters’ participation compared to other European countries. Nevertheless, the participation in this battle only reached 61% (compared to 71% in 2009). We should also take into account that the election catalogues have not been updated while others assess that 15-20% of the voters have died and no one has erased them from the election catalogues.

The increased abstention compared to the elections in 2009 has given rise to various political analyses and interpretations. In this respect the CC assesses that “a large part of the abstention was evident especially in Attica and in the municipality of Athens reflects the people’s indignation and the condemnation of the policies of PASOK and ND while it has a relatively more significant political character compared to the corresponding phenomenon in the elections for the European Parliament. It reflects positive developments, which are still in progress, towards the liberation of people from the bourgeois parties and the logic of the management of the crisis of the system.

In addition, this abstention reflects to a significant extent the condemnation of and the aversion to the blackmailing and the intimidation of the government over the last period.

The CC assesses that a part of the abstention, especially among the youth and masses that have not participated in the struggles, results from the impact of the systematic propaganda and the slander of the organised struggle, the class struggle, from the multifaceted propagation of individualism and the pursuit of individual solutions to the acute problems.

The KKE will do everything in its power to contribute so as the people understand that abstention does not exert any pressure on the anti-people anti-labour policies. On the contrary, it reduces the possibilities that exist today, namely to move faster towards the reversal of the negative correlation of forces which is mainly based on the power of PASOK and ND. The KKE calls on the workers to take an active part in the struggle against the monopolies, against imperialism and struggle with KKE in a people’s radical front that struggles against the dominant policies in a direction of counterattack, rupture and overthrow. In addition, so that the people understand that the support for the other parties of the opposition does not contribute to the strengthening of the people’s radical front that struggles against the dominant policies firmly and consistently without wavering and diversionary maneuvers.

5/The new responsibilities of the KKE in light of the developments

Furthermore, the statement of the CC of the KKE states that “the CC reaffirms that KKE will rise to meet its increased responsibilities, that it will fight so as to overcome the shortcomings which were identified in its activity. It will focus on the rise of the militant spirit of the people, on the participation of masses and young people in the struggle; it will make new efforts to rally the people and to form the alliance of the working class with the self-employed, the poor farmers, the youth and women.

The working people will face a new wave of anti-labour, anti-people measures, a new wave of authoritarian measures as the crisis will intensify both in Greece as well as in Europe. They will face the joint management in the Aegean Sea, which has already been planned, the intensification of the intra-imperialist contradictions in the region.

In view of these developments we will seek to create a stronger radical people’s current capable of hindering the worst measures and pave the way for the alternative political proposal which is necessary for the people and the country.

The rallying of popular forces against the policies of PASOK and ND, against the barbarity of the Memorandum, against the choices of the IMF and the EU that pursue a memorandum (the measures of which are not temporary) must extend also to the second round. No support for the lists of PASOK and ND in the municipalities and regions where they take part in the second round of the elections. PASOK and ND are neither able nor willing to change. Consequently, the liberation from the two parties is the best and most effective step in order to pave the way for positive developments for the people’s lives. The second round of the local elections must signal a new beginning for the reorganization of the movement, for the counterattack.

The CC recommends blank or spoiled ballots in the instances where representatives of other political forces or allegedly independent forces that support the ruling policies with their political line and their stance and hinder the radicalization of the people, participate in the second round.

The record of these forces and their cadres in the organs of prefectures and municipalities hitherto shows that they are not willing to disobey and resist the anti-people choices of the Kallikratis reform no matter if they appear as independent or “rebel” candidates.

6/Demonstrations on the 15^th of November

At the same time notes that “the next step for the people must be its participation on the 15^th of November in the extremely important demonstrations which have been called by the KKE so that the opposition of the great majority of the people to the memorandum can be displayed, and with the slogan that burden of the crisis should be paid for by the guilty, the monopolies and the plutocracy and not the working people.

The CC salutes the tireless efforts of the members, supporters and friends of the Party as well as of the members and friends of KNE so that the voice, the assessments, positions and proposals of the KKE could reach wider working class and popular masses, so that the people’s militancy, the will to resist and the struggle for the future could be expressed at the ballot box. We must continue struggling in the same militant and tireless spirit for the liberation of the popular masses from the dilemmas of PASOK and ND in view of the second round of the local elections, for the success of the mass rallies against the troika in Athens and Thessalonica.

The CC calls on the hundreds of regional and municipal councilors to be at the side of the people who suffer, to struggle for the workers’ and people’s problems along with the mass organizations, the militants in the workplaces and the neighbourhoods.