Following the failure of PASOK to achieve its declared goal of securing second place in the European elections, Doukas is preparing for the critical battle, emphasizing the need for an agreement among the party’s forces on a “roadmap” and the next steps. In an interview with Kathimerini, Doukas points out that “PASOK has lost 100,000 votes since last June’s elections” and that the unjustified delay will lead to the degeneration of the party. As he characteristically states: “It is not simply a defeat, but the fact that another opportunity has been lost. The worst part is that we are getting used to defeats. With excuses and procrastination, the party is in danger of degenerating, and the demand ‘do something finally’ is coming from everywhere.”

At this stage, he avoids confirming his decision to run in the internal party elections when the process begins. “The priority is to agree and define the roadmap of the changes that need to be implemented immediately,” he explains, responding to the relevant question. He focuses on the message of the recent European elections regarding PASOK and the broader center-left: “The election result sent a clear and strong message: The reconstruction of the democratic faction must not be lost again in endless discussions, committees, coordinating bodies, and platforms.” Circles close to Haris Doukas add that “when the time comes,” he will announce his decisions and outline the necessary and sufficient conditions for upgrading the role of PASOK on the domestic political scene. The dilemma for Haris Doukas, as he tells his interlocutors, is: stagnation or restart now? And the answer, as he hastens to clarify, is clear: restart and election by the base now. Otherwise, Doukas’ circles emphasize, we will be led as a party to paralysis, decay, and a death spiral. “

The leadership had set a goal of second place. So, there is a political defeat. A political framework is needed, and everyone must take a stand and take responsibility to save the game the next day,” they also argue, referring to the reconstruction and reunification of the center-left, explaining that after the first step of electing the leadership of PASOK by the base, the next step must be taken. “Only PASOK can achieve reconstruction and reunification. To bring other forces into its ‘soul’ again. Just as Gennimata did by founding the Movement for Change with PASOK as its core and inviting forces from outside Harilaou Trikoupi to cooperate. PASOK will be the catalyst for developments,” add circles close to the Mayor of Athens, who is preparing to open a new chapter in politics. It is evident that Doukas’ candidacy inaugurates a new period in his relationship with Nikos Androulakis, who chose to throw him into the pre-election battle of Athens last August. It also foreshadows a fierce confrontation under the PASOK/KINAL label. “If I were a citizen of the Municipality of Athens, I would want my mayor to complete his term. I believe that Mr. Doukas will complete his term and will try to do what he is already doing very well and very successfully, to be the mayor of Athens,” said PASOK-KINAL spokesman and close associate of Androulakis, Thanasis Glavinas, on “Parapolitika 90.1,” when asked the day before yesterday about the possibility of Mr. Doukas “straying” from Kotzia Square and heading up to Harilaou Trikoupi. In any case, Mr. Doukas will await the decisions of Harilaou Trikoupi regarding the convening of the bodies that will set the course for developments.

The party’s Political Council will meet on Wednesday for the first time since the European elections; however, Nikos Androulakis may start to reveal his plans as early as tomorrow through an interview on ERT. This will be followed on June 30 by the crucial meeting of the Central Committee, which is responsible for deciding on the “roadmap.” The proposal that has so far been put on the “table” is that of PASOK MP Odysseas Konstantinopoulos, who proposes the election of the leader by the party’s base by the end of the year. “We need a strong restart! A new, strong mandate to put into practice the great PASOK of our expectations, with a leadership that mobilizes broader social forces,” says Mr. Konstantinopoulos, explaining his reasoning for a leadership, political, and organizational restart in the party: “Therefore, I call for the immediate convening of PASOK’s bodies within the next week to decide on this specific timetable: the statutory election procedures for the leadership of the party, scheduled for 2025, should be accelerated so that they can be completed by the end of this year, along with the subsequent Congress to decide on our political platform and elect our collective bodies.”

Party officials and MPs have described Konstantinopoulos’ proposal as “welcome,” and despite his initial position for the election of the leadership according to the party’s statutes, that is, in the fall of 2025, Mr. Androulakis is now considering the possibility of holding elections earlier, even in July. Who will be running for the leadership? In addition to the current leader and Mr. Doukas, Pavlos Geroulanos is close to pressing the “button” for an official start, while Manolis Christodoulakis is also seriously considering the possibility and intends to make a statement to the party’s bodies.