The anxiety of measuring up is now constant in the centre-left Movement for Change/PASOK party.

On the one hand it is measuring its polling numbers and on the other what distance from its larger opponents it must keep.

As for the polls, the results are encouraging, as they are the highest that they have been in the last ten years. Regarding keeping distances from other parties, however, the anxiety remains.

It would be wrong if, due to its rise in the polls, PASOK forgets the difficulty of the task that it has undertaken. The party must prove that it can stand firmly in the centre of the political spectrum, with a distinct Social Democratic platform, and without being crushed under the weight of pressures from New Democracy and SYRIZA, that will unavoidably intensify as we approach the next general election.

Right now, it is in the middle of the field of a game for two – ND and SYRZA – and its basic aim is to be included in the game.

KINAL/PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis is not the first leader of the centre-left party who has tried to achieve that.

The late party leader Fofi Gennimata pursued the same goal – to ensure KINAL’s return as a leading player in Greek politics, replacing SYRIZA as the basic alternative to the government.

That effort did not yield the expected results, as it was not reflected in the party’s polling numbers.

The current political confluence of events favours Androulakis, who is confronted with the greatest battle ever waged by PASOK.

The need to measure up is constant. It reminds him of the difficulty of his mission and the need to produce results.

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