In mid-1980s, political polarization was a dominant characteristic in politics. The election of Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who replaced the elderly Evangelos Averof in the leadership of ND, denoted strong disputes between the leaders of the two major parties (Papandreou-Mitsotakis), who had been political partners before the dictatorship. The end of Karamanlis’ presidency coincided with a major constitutional crisis that convulsed the country and put the political life to test. That was the controversial and marginally won election of the new president, Christos Sartzetakis. With PASOK fomenting an ‘anti-Right’ syndrome and K. Mitsotakis standing for a neo-liberal policy that was not well received, PASOK managed to remain in office winning a 46% over ND’s 41% in the elections of June 1985.

The heavy social cost that accompanied the political practices of PASOK after 1985, induced a rift in the relation of PASOK with the lower strata and aroused social reactions. There is no doubt that polarization was a dominant characteristic that pervaded the entire decade and took the form of confrontation in different levels (PASOK-ND, government-workpeople, etc.). It was only at the end of the decade that the all-party government of cooperation between the Left and the Right proceeded to a symbolic removal of political barriers and social rigidity of decades, through the adoption of the ‘national reconciliation’ policy.