Papadocracy

All roads leading to Athens were plastered with billboards saying NAI (yes) in bold white against a blue background with the legend VOTE YES FOR DEMOCRACY. IT IS NOW IN YOUR HANDS. Having quelled last May's naval revolt against his junta's six-year rule and deposed exiled King Constantine, Greek Strongman George Papadopoulos offered his countrymen last Sunday a chance to vote--but not much of a choice.

In voting ochi (no), Greeks could merely embarrass the regime by refusing Papadopoulos' request for them to legitimize his rule. He vowed in a television address not to resign and "not to be overthrown by a vote of rejection." Whether Greeks voted yes to accept a so-called republic and permit parliamentary elections next year or no to protest abolition of the monarchy, the outcome was the same--continued iron-fisted rule by Papadopoulos. Greeks could not abstain from voting, since by law they must either vote or risk going to jail. The referendum, in short, was a charade.

Expectedly, there was virtually no public campaigning for an ochi vote. Former political leaders, who banded together in a group called the Committee for the Restoration of Legality in Greece, were barred from staging a rally in Omonia Square in Athens, while busloads of docile supporters were sent to many government nai demonstrations elsewhere. Ochi posters were nowhere to be seen.

Independent-minded and contentious, Greeks have not taken kindly to such cynicism. Said a veteran U.S. diplomat in Athens: "I have never seen them so frustrated, angered and united as they are on this plebiscite."

Though he clearly wanted public endorsement for his proposed government, Papadopoulos appeared only once on TV. He took no other part in the campaign. He wanted to be "a good sport," explained Information Minister Byron Stamatopoulos. "Since he has no opponents, it would not have been fair" to campaign too much. To which cynics replied that there was no reason for Papadopoulos to campaign any harder.

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