Nailing Down the Nai Vote

Dominating Athens from a choice location 600 ft. up Mount Lycabettos is an enormous neon sign that outshines even the gleaming, floodlit marble of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. The sign spells out the Greek word NAI in letters 30 ft. high. All over Greece, on walls, buses, taxis, telephone poles, billboards, farm carts, beach huts and whitewashed windmills in the Aegean isles, posters urge: NAI. Next week 5 million Greeks will vote NAI (yes) or OXI (no) in a referendum on a new constitution drafted by the military junta that has ruled the country since it seized power 17 months ago. Even the most cautious analysts predict a minimum yes vote of 70%.

Empty Amnesty. To nail down what already seems a sure thing, Premier George Papadopoulos last week made a calculated bid for popular approval by announcing that some 50 political prisoners will be released six days before the referendum. Among them are two ex-Premiers: liberal George Papandreou and conservative Panayotis Kanellopoulos. The gesture seems conciliatory, but in fact is largely empty. Even if the freed opposition leaders want to fight the constitution, their access to the voters is restricted by press censorship under martial law. Nor is the government radio likely to find any time for them. The amnesty does not apply to the 2,000 Greek Communists and other far-leftists interned on the Aegean islands of Leros and Yiaros, or to 20 senior military officers who backed King Constantine's unsuccessful countercoup last December. Papadopoulos aims to keep a checkrein even on those men he has released. "I hope they will not make another false step," he said pointedly, "and force me to put them away again."

Compared with the old constitution, which was suspended by the junta, the new document drastically limits the monarch's powers and vastly increases military authority. At the same time, it contains some provisions against corruption unprecedented in modern Greece, including mandatory yearly publication of party financial statements and a ban on conflicts of interest for members of Parliament. Political parties would be made more democratic by a requirement that their leaders be elected in open conventions rather than chosen secretly. The constitution goes into effect as soon as approved--except for guarantees of such individual rights as free speech and free assembly. The government can maintain martial law as long as it likes.

Dutiful Shepherd. Though the referendum is a first step toward ending the junta's hold on Greece, the next move is nowhere in sight. Under the new constitution, elections may not be held without the presence in Greece of King Constantine, who spent his first summer in exile aimlessly resort-hopping in Italy and Sardinia. Few Greeks expect the government to allow him to return soon, and Papadopoulos last week brusquely refused to set a date for elections. The Premier made it clear that he was in no hurry to return Greece to the perils of democracy. "We intend to be the shepherds of the Greek people," he said. "A shepherd stays to look after his flock even when wolves are not around."

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