It was said to be the disappointment with the establishment. It was the desire to give the parties a slap in the face. The want for change. It was all these things as well as the casual attitude we have towards the importance of voting. Mostly that.
Many of us may have never voted for someone because we fully believed in what they said, did, and represented. However, in a multitude of candidates, there is always something to grasp onto, to judge and decide. The lesser of two evils.
Clearly, we would like things to be different, to have to choose between people who inspire us, who we trust, who we believe can move things forward, bring about changes for better conditions.
Qualities that Fidias Panayiotou did not possess. He is a young man who made very low-level pranks and subjected himself, as well as others, to meaningless trials. He may have other qualities and talents, but this is what voters saw: a man with a good grasp on technology (and perhaps without realising it, of the psychology of the masses). A tasteless prankster who turned pranks into a profession. With very good income, as he boasted, although his official declaration shows him as a low-paid freelancer.
This tasteless prankster was chosen by 71,330 adult citizens to represent them in the European Parliament. A place where free sparkling water is provided – as he discovered and informed us immediately upon taking office – but which is not suitable for protest events and reminders of tragedies. After all, tragedies have no place in a silly, happy world where people can laugh at cheap pranks.
For Fidias Panayiotou, growing up without knowing your father because he was killed fighting so that there is at least half a homeland for us to joke around in, is an insignificant event.
Not knowing what happened to your parent, growing up expecting that one day a miracle will happen and they will return, also means nothing after fifty years.
“You’re not the only orphan, my daring,” “I have a missing uncle too, but I don’t make a fuss” was the response from our new MEP to members of the “Association of Spouses/Children of Missing Persons 1619.” And these statements caused such a shock that even he was left speechless.
The rest of us, especially the 71,330 who voted for him, did we perhaps understand that elections are not for pranks?