Like today, April 9, Greece will sleep with the ND government and wake up with the PASOK government – The thriller elections of 2000
Four months after the arrival of the new millennium, Greece had been led to the polls. The then Prime Minister Costas Simitis he had called early elections and many said this was a major political mistake as his popularity had plummeted. It was almost a given that he would lose the match since on the other hand the then president of New Democracy, Costas Karamanlis was on a rising trajectory. Nothing foretold the ultimate election thriller we experienced one day like today. On 9 April 2000.
Polls and exit polls
This climate was reflected in both the pre-election polls and the exit polls. Everyone predicted a victory for the New Democracy. Some saw an easy victory. Some other more difficult victory. However, everyone considered it almost certain that Costas Karamanlis was the big winner of the electoral contest.
Did everyone predict a victory for ND? Not all. The only exception is the polling company Metron Analysis, which was the only one that gave PASOK a victory with a marginal difference. In the general climate of euphoria (SW) or gloom (PASOK), however, no one paid attention and everyone “clicked” on the statistical error. Error!
When the exit polls were released, the feeling was confirmed. New Democracy would easily or hardly win! Immediately a crazy festival was set up in the central charts of the party that was in Rigilli at that time. Rumor has it that Costas Karamanlis together with the then spokesman of ND, Aris Spiliotopoulos, wrote the declaration of victory. Tears of joy and furious celebrations at the central pre-election stand, in Syntagma Square. At the same time, many party MPs who were invited to various TV panels showed their preferences for the ministries they would like to take over!
The exact opposite was happening in the offices of PASOK in Charilaou Trikoupi and in the central pre-election on Klafthmonos. Klathmos and odyrmos. Everyone was looking to find out what went wrong. To find the cause of defeat. All; Not all! THE Costas Laliotis arrives at the offices of PASOK. Psychraimos stands in front of the TV cameras waiting for a statement and says: “As long as we wait. The night will be great. “
At that time many people laughed. They thought that Laliotis … suffered what they say about the hope that he always dies last and they fell asleep as the next day was a working day.
Greece slept with the ND government and woke up with the PASOK government
The night flowed smoothly. Nothing showed that anything could change. Until the results of NW Athens began to be incorporated. Some at that time remembered the exit poll of Metron Analysis and the statement of Kostas Laliotis. “Find out and …”, they wondered before they fully understood what had happened, within the next hour, everything had come to a head!
The difference, now, was a few hundred votes and the momentum was clearly in favor of PASOK. The gloom had definitively changed camp. PASOK fans are celebrating. She’s trying to figure out exactly what happened New Democracy. And with each passing hour it became clearer that the “ball” would sit in the green. And that’s done. In the early morning hours, the victory of PASOK “locked” and finally the ruling party won the match with a difference of 72,400 votes!
The next morning you found everyone shocked. They’s about how they managed to win right on the thread and they’s about how they lost the keys to the Maximos Palace through their hands.
In the SW there were many voices for the final result of elections. From the “suspicious role” of Costas Laliotis, who was accused of “determining the result in underground ways” to the “illegal Hellenizations”. They did not insist on anything, however, and Costas Karamanlis was forced to tear up the declaration of victory and write the declaration of defeat, acknowledging the final result.