SYRIZA is thinking about the Amyras issue

There is intense concern in the ranks of SYRIZA regarding the strategy to be applied towards the ND smear campaign as despite assurances that "we are not going to follow ND's slippery slope of mud", they have been forced to publish four notices on the Amyras issue and dozens of clarifying responses to the media.

SYRIZA members agree that the ND smear campaign is a sign of pervasive panic in the few days before the elections and the lack of morality that characterizes Samaras' close colleagues. But they disagree as to the reaction they should adopt. The strategy of the party leadership attempts to bring the public debate back to the critical issues of the economy and the memorandum. They believe that a key objective of Samaras’ staff is to "create non-existent issues in order to mislead public opinion and bring people to the polls without the problems of the memorandum."

But there are some members who argue that the Amyras issue is a negative catalyst for SYRIZA and are asking the leadership to proceed to a clear disapproval.

However, speaking on protothema.gr, Dimitris Papadimoulis explains that "the fact that everybody is attacking SYRIZA proves that we are doing well. ND prefers to blur things in order to avoid confrontation on the critical issues of the memorandum." Regarding the Amyras issue, he said that "ND is choosing to strike at a caricature of alleged SYRIZA views, wanting to burden us with the craziness of a man who did not and does not belong to SYRIZA."

Spokesman Panos Skourletis clarifies that SYRIZA will not follow ND on its "slippery slope of mud. ND is discovering non-existent issues to divert the discussion from the issues of the memorandum. This tactic might be uniting the ND world, but I'm not so sure it does is the same for centrist voters. The public is not affected by ND’s smear campaign."

The manager of the party's advertising campaign, Tasos Koronakis, notes that "for us the pre-election confrontation will not be carried out with mud slinging and lies. We will not follow ND", and criticizes the ND pre-election spots, saying that "they should be ashamed of using the look of anxiety in children. In this specific spot they have replaced real conversations. Normally the kids should be asking why their dad has no job, why they don't have anything to eat during the break, why their uncle committed suicide, why they don't have any books."