Golden Dawn spokesman and candidate for mayor, Elias Kassidiaris may not have been the upset that Golden Dawn hoped for by making it into the second round, but massing more than 16 percent of the vote is undoubtedly a stunning rise from the party's 2012 showing in Athens, (where previously it was a mere 7.81%).
Even more notable is the fact that in the region of Attiki, where party leader Nikos Michaloliakos garnered 7.9% in the previous general election, Golden Dawn candidate Ilias Panagiotaros garnered 11.11% of the vote.
In fact, in blue collar areas across Athens, Golden Dawn saw its numbers soar.
Specifically, in Athens' fourth electoral ward, which includes Acadimia Platonos, Kolonos and Sepolia, the far-rightest party was placed first, with a whopping 20.7% of the vote.
(Some say it was even higher)
Whereas in the sixth electoral ward, which includes neighbourhoods with populous migrant communities such as Kypseli and Patisia, the Golden Dawn party massed some 18.8% of the vote.
And quite remarkably in a couple of middle and upper income areas, such as Ampelokipoi and Kolonaki, this party even massed 14% and 13.7% (respectively) of the vote.
The same cannot be said about the area of Piraeus. There, Golden Dawn candidate Nikos Kouzoulos only received 5.68% of the vote, compared to the 8.26% it got in the 2012 general elections.
In general, the far-right party did well across the country, but it polled best in the Peloponnese and Central Greece regions.
And here is where the story becomes totally hilarious.
The same candidates and/or political parties which have over the last few months basically shunned Golden Dawn supporters (and in some odd cases have even made them feel like they were contributing to the devastation of this country's democracy), are now fighting to win over these voters in the second round of elections.
The showdown in our opinion will be in the region of Attica. Here the double digit polling results of Golden Dawn, constitutes a major pool of potential voters for the second round contenders.
The main opposition SYRIZA party which is the exact opposite of Golden Dawn is expected to attempt to build alliances with these voters. (DIFFICULT)
This is because the party's disappointing results in last Sunday's elections clearly indicates that if this move is not made, then they would never stand a chance to push their agenda and to win the national elections. Of course we all know that the far right will never vote for extreme leftists. And with this fact in mind, SYRIZA is afraid that if it does not do well this coming Sunday it will in the end face a nationwide array of elected local officials (that will mostly stem from the Right) that are going to one hundred percent oppose its agenda on national issues if it ever comes into government.
A positive development for conservatives, and certainly a terrible development to all the Anti-Hellenes who have over the last few years worked feverishly to push a New World Order agenda on our society that has the signature of George Soros.
In Athens, it is expected that there will be an effort to woo Golden Dawn voters since some government officials have openly supported incumbent (and Soros-backed) George Kaminis. This will indeed be entertaining since Kaminis and SYRIZA's Gabriel Sakellaridis are sworn enemies of Golden Dawn.
We here at HellasFrappe have warned the government time and time again that the only way to face off with Golden Dawn is through political dialogue and not through purposely discrediting and persecuting them. That is why it will be difficult for the governing New Democracy party to woo its voters.
The firm evidence against Golden Dawn produced by the ongoing prosecution of the party as a criminal organization apparently had little impact at the polls, as Golden Dawn had major electoral gains over 2012 in both Athens and Attica.
Some analysts, such as veteran pollster and Athens University professor Ilias Nikolakopoulos, claim that the voters of the Golden Dawn party are an impossible pool to attract. He recently told Eleftherotypia that the vast majority of these supporters are most likely to cast spoiled or blank ballots, rather than support the party-backed candidates in the second round.
But even this bitter truth did not dash the candidates' hopes of extracting gains from the far right party. And as ridiculous as it may sound these candidates are depending on these voters to win this Sunday's elections.
Sakellaridis for instance whose party has continually lashed out and slammed far-right supporters said that SYRIZA is not making overtures toward neo-Nazis, but the 16% of the Athens electorate that voted for Golden Dawn is not in reality a group of people that are neonazis.
Dahhhh... some would say.
Clearly a 100 percent hypocritical statement isn't it?
Even more entertaining and quite laughably, the incompetent and Soros backed George Kaminis was quick in admitting his hopes of attracting the Golden Dawn vote. He told Eleftherotypia that he was appealing to everyone, including Golden Dawn voters but that "they must accept our positions, because we are not going to adopt those of Golden Dawn".
(Yeah... Only idiots accept Soros backed ideologies Georgo... Good luck with that one!)
On the other side of the scale, conservatives are confused. Veteran supporters of the New Democracy party who have for decades supported a "Karamanlis" political philosophy, and who are extremely irritated with some of the decisions from the Antonis Samaras government, (which have stepped away from the party line and leaned the conservative party towards the Left in favor of PASOK coalition partner Evangelos the Large on more than one occasion), do not know where to cast their vote.
They are angry with the recent revelations concerning cabinet secretary and top adviser to Samaras Takis Baltakos who was caught on tape admitting that there was governmental judicial tampering against the Golden Dawn party. When he was ousted from the government in April, he justified his contacts with Kassidiaris as an effort to keep open channels of communications with Golden Dawn in what he said was an effort from him to make ND appealing to Golden Dawn's 500,000 voters.
In simple words, he left it to be understood that GD was set up to be persecuted from the law because they were becoming too popular with the people and because most of these voters were from ND and needed to be brought back into the herd.
(Doesn't this sound idiotic? Of course it does, but we have said -on more than one occasion- that political parties are nothing more than money-making corporations. If you dear Frapper still believe that parties get into political life to service the people, then you are walking with a blindfold!)
And this is probably why GD did so well last Sunday. Because the general view across Greece is that they are being persecuted for their popularity. The mere fact that political parties such as PASOK and DIMAR continue to raise this argument only allows GD to become even more appealing to voters.
One example of this is the statements that were made before the voting. Venizelos who instead of tending to his own party woes, continued with this ridiculous rhetoric saying that it was imperative that all political and social forces believe in Democracy and the fight "against Nazism and political violence”. DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis, whose party is doing terribly thanks to Anti-Hellenes like Maria Reppousi, said that “Golden Dawn’s rating obligate the democratic forces to tackle this dangerous phenomenon”.
And we ask: What democratic forces?
The ones who push Turkish chosen and George Soros backed candidates on us?
Or the ones that bow their heads to global imperialistic interests?
But wait... The statements get even more ridiculous.
On Monday Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis appeared on SKAI television calling the results of the election “a disgrace” and adding that the voters had “a personal responsibility” for electing a neo-Nazi party in their choice to protest against the coalition government.
(And yet now these same conservatives are courting the GD voters for their support this coming Sunday? Are you kidding us?)
Our opinion here at HellasFrappe is that the results of the first round showed that none of Greece's political parties nor the candidates they chose to endorse have any real resonance with the people.
This view is further enhanced by a statement that was made by one of Kathimerini's commentators:
"The 'far-right' is merely a symptom of the crisis," they proclaimed at every turn, "the right will disappear - then it will be business as usual" - people will consume as before, Greece and Europe will become one giant multicultural Disney park. But it is as clear as air that neo-liberal and even socialist academics have completely miscalculated reality. The crisis has generated polarized wealth - the poor are permanently entrenched and the political left only raises its limp wrist with the same bromides from the 1930's, while rallying around the lost cause of immigration. Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) is as hard as Cretan rock, its political message resonates with Greeks and - it has once again demonstrated that, despite mass arrest, it is a permanent fixture of Greek political life."This is the plain truth and it is high time that our leaders realize this. All those who had foreseen a complete reversal of the political landscape were obviously proved wrong – at least for the time being.
Clearly, the popularity of Golden Dawn is posing problems to Greece's mainstream parties, as other nationalist parties are doing across Europe in their countries as well, and this is what is scaring some hotheads in Brussels. They believe that the results of Sunday's election could affect national and even European agendas on hot-button issues, such as the integration of Muslims into Europe and the EU itself.
And they should be afraid.
What they do not realize is that all nations across Europe, Greece included, have their own political culture that influences the rise of nationalism and their stubbornness to recognize this is only fueling extremism.
Why?
The answer is so simple: Globalization.
The Western world's increasingly globalized economy and bureaucratic/NGO/academic culture simply means that global elites are pushing their own agendas and interests on nations for their own personal gain (most of which are harmful and inhuman to ordinary citizens). Shouting out “France for Frenchman” or “Spain for Spaniards” might sound as an us-against-them urgency and viewed as dark and dangerous by some wannabes who speak about political correctness, but our leaders would be foolish to ignore the fact that it’s also a way of renewing the social contract, or a way of demanding loyalty throughout society from top to bottom, to the shared weal of the national community.
This Sunday, instead of wooing these voters, who until today were ridiculed and pushed to the side by the supporters of globalism, our politicians should worry about the detachment of elites from common everyday citizens and nothing else. Why is it wrong for us to want them to renew their loyalty to national projects rather than allow them to push global citizenship on us? Why should this be termed racist, or xenophobic, or whatever.
Where is the crime in wanting the best for your country?
There is no crime... And the establishment only knows this too well. So instead of focusing on how to swing the vote in their favor this forthcoming Sunday, Greek political parties should be more concerned about defending the interests of Greece first and then finally getting in touch with their own people. This is how fascism and extremism is won...
Our advice to them is that they should focus their creativity in a substantial debate about Greece’s place in Europe, and on how our country can better take advantage of domestic production to leave the crisis behind once and for all, as well as how to set aside the divisive and ineffective, as it turns out, conflicts.
There is no other way to fight the Golden Dawn party, and their obvious rise in popularity.
Signed
The HellasFrappe Team
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