To get into practice for this strenuous time most of April was devoted to the anticipation, celebration and recovery from Easter. As is well-known, holidays here are observed far more energetically than work days. President Sartzetakis broke red eggs with officers of the armed forces, the prime minister broke eggs with members of the fire department; the first lady, Mrs Frosso Sartzetakis, broke Mrs Papandreou’s egg; Mr Mitsotakis danced the traditional kalamatianos in Hania and former president Karamanlis wielded his mashie on the golf links in Corfu.
Every year passion week and the road to Golgotha are fully re-experienced both in church and on the highways. Over half a million Athenians abandoned their city for the country, and though most made it back, 38 were killed and well over 400 were laid up in hospitals and clinics. Photo-reportage not devoted to egg-breaking was taken up by a long series of smashed vehicles and equally smashed passengers, often printed in the tabloids in vivid color.
Whatever rest the holidays afforded were much needed for the rigors of May with its no-holds-barred political campaign leading to elections on June 2. Although Minister of Interior Menios Koutsoyiorgas had gamely predicted that this would be the case back in early April, it was of course up to the prime minister to propose such a course of action, to set this proposal in writing, to submit it to the president for consideration, and to await a formal reply. All of this took a great deal of time as the letter had to be composed carefully and persuasively, and its contents had to be weighed by President Sartzetakis who must take his position above politics very seriously. Meanwhile, there was Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Easter Monday and Saint Thomas’s Day to contend with as well as the slowness of the postal service which around holidays comes to a dead stop.
Nor was the gathering of about a million members of the opposition in and around Syntagma clamoring for early elections going to rush the decorum of this constitutional procedure, even if the prime minister has lately shown some impatience with the 1974 constitution. As he has often said lately, it is a single party document concocted by the conservatives in the euphoria following the fall of the junta, and he feels little compunction to override it by parliamentary vote. Thus, on March 28, in the third and final presidential vote, the ballot was held without a paravant, although the constitution specifies that it be held in secret. As Premier Papandreou stated the matter, “The vote is too important to be held by secret ballot.” Besides, the ballots to be picked up and cast in public were said to be uniform, though the pile of ‘nays’ was white and the ‘ayes’ pale blue. Moreover, the parliamentary chamber for this session was, with the aid of spotlights, lit up as brilliantly as the last act of The Magic Flute to make sure that everyone could see the difference.
Unfortunately, this wealth of Victorian detail is necessary to get any real glimpse of the Greek political scene which otherwise might be dismissed by foreign observers as ‘byzantine’, whereas, with the help of kleig lights, it is classical in its clarity. Furthermore, it is such details as the absence of a paravant and the presence of ununiformly uniform ballots which explained the absence of 112 members of the New Democracy party from the procedings.
In general, Greek elections are held during the cool months and most often in October, the general belief being that political discourse in this country is heated enough without the addition of the summer sun. But in spite of a slow spring, on Easter Monday when it is customary to burn a scarecrow effigy of Judas in various parts of the country, in a Cretan village the effigy was labelled “Mitsotakis” and burned – a bit of roguery said to have been thought up by government officials, but which may be revealing of the level at which the approaching campaign will be held. Yet it is agreed by all parties that the present political crisis be resolved as soon as possible.
For many foreigners, this period will be long and hectic. All the same, a slow spring promises a beautiful May and Mayor Beis has promised to bring out all the unused Carvival floats – cancelled by bad weather in February – for a parade early in the month. So Athens will become a spring festival as well as a summer one enriched by Athens being the cultural capital of Europe this year. Yet the rallies and the rhetoric should also be looked upon with care, as their results may have a more permanent effect on the future of citizens and foreign residents alike.
