The case of the leak of the list of recipient names of her emails Annas Asimakopoulou had been added in recent weeks to the government’s open (and polling) wounds. Regardless of the nature of the issue and how the data was leaked, the majority of respondents in the latest surveys said the issue damaged the credibility of the postal voting process, which has been touted as one of the government’s flagship reforms in recent months.
The removal of the MEP from the new ND ballot was a one-way street and had actually been announced by Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his recent TV interview. As it had been seen since Tuesday, the Prime Minister had distanced himself from Anna Asimakopoulou and a valid impression was formed that he and his staff knew what had happened and how.
Withdrawal and resignations
Following these, on Friday and with a difference of a few minutes, Anna Asimakopoulou announced on her own that she was withdrawing from the race for the European elections and the Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior resigned Michalis Stavrianoudakis and the secretary Apodimon of the ND Nikos Theodoropoulos.
However, the background of the developments has an additional interest, as the Ministry of the Interior has been conducting an investigation in recent weeks with the aim of clarifying the manner and source of the leak. Apparently, this disciplinary process developed in the familiar, slow way of the Greek bureaucracy. However, as the Prime Minister himself had mentioned, at the same time an investigation was being carried out by the staff of the Maximos Palace, apparently and as proved by the developments, much faster and more effective.
Summary procedures
According to government sources, the investigation of Maximos was led to conclusions much faster, which in turn led to decisions, namely the resignation of the general secretary of the ministry, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, and the dismissal of the secretary of the Apodimon party, Nikos Theodoropoulos. It is noted that the young man, only 25 years old former secretary, is also a member of the “Truth Team”, a fact that is expected to open a different type of discussion about one of the main communication weapons of the ND. According to some sources, he was also his partner Grigori Dimitriadis – with all that entails, who was forced to resign after revelations about the wiretapping scandal in the summer of 2022.
According to information, the investigation of the Maximos Palace developed with abbreviated procedures and based on this the decisions were one-way. From the environment of the prime minister’s office it is reported that the main responsibility for the leak rests with the ND party executive, the former secretary Apodimon, who was allegedly the person who gave Mrs. Asimakopoulou the list of recipients, which, persistently noted by government officials sources, it is not related to the platform where those who wish to take advantage of the possibility of voting by letter register, but to the data that the party had at its disposal about emigrants.
However, according to what the government representative said on Friday Pavlos Marinakisthe leak of the names had taken place during the period between the May and June 2023 elections, during a caretaker government and based on data collected from the May 2023 election process. Following this, the ND Secretary Apodimon was immediately dismissed, while resignation of the general secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, who was during the disputed period in a position of responsibility in the Ministry of the Interior, was considered politically inevitable.
Credibility damage
For the government, however, the case causes a credibility blow, while at the same time feeding behind the scenes and other discussions. Among other things, the inelegant handling of the interior minister Nikis Kerameoswhich when passing the provision for postal voting had suddenly attempted to extend the validity of the measure to national elections as well, with a last-minute amendment.
Following these developments, it is expected that the government will look for ways to restore the credibility and integrity of the postal voting process, in the time remaining until the European elections.
The number of those who have been declared so far exceeds 20,000 and, according to the estimates of ministry officials before the “Assimakopoulos case” became known, if registrations on the platform continued at the same rate until the deadline of April 29, the total could reach up to 500,000.
After what has happened, the officials of the ministry are monitoring the registrations under the weight of the developments, while at the same time it is expected that the security measures will be reviewed to avoid new unpleasant prospects.
At the same time, however, it is expected that the government will receive strong attacks from the opposition for yet another “unfortunate” incident, for which it has so far responded that “some things cannot be tolerated” and that “we do not operate para-ministries of Justice in Maximos, having next to us irrevocably condemned with 13-0. We’re just not all the same.”
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