Greece gives Syriza another poll victory
Despite his unpopularity, voters’ lack of faith in the opposition has returned the Leftist leader to power
Greece’s radical former prime minister Alexis Tsipras looked to be on course to return to office last night after his far-Left Syriza party won a clear victory in the country’s general election. Preliminary results showed Syriza had won sufficient seats to form a coalition government in the coming days. The next government must put in place stringent reforms demanded as part of the €86 billion bailout package agreed in July.
GREECE’s radical former prime minister Alexis Tsipras looked destined to be returned to office last night after his far-Left Syriza party won a clear victory in the country’s general election.
Despite a tepid campaign that saw Mr Tsipras’s personal popularity fall sharply, preliminary results showed the 41-year-old’s Syriza party had won sufficient seats to form a coalition government in the coming days. After a tight race, Syriza emerged as the comfortable winner, with initial projections showing them falling only five or six seats short of the 151 seats needed for an outright majority.
Last night, the centre-Right Independent Greeks party was already signalling its willingness to work with Mr Tsipras. “We will participate in the next government,” a spokesman said.
Whatever the complexion of the coalition, the next Greek government will face the daunting challenge of implementing the stringent set of governance reforms demanded by the €86 billion bailout package agreed to in July.
The package has already split Syriza. Some analysts fear there are turbulent times ahead as Greece faces up to the reality of the reforms.
“This is a fragile party, although one third of the members broke off, there are still radical elements left who can create problems for Tsipras,” said Marco Vicenzino, a Greece expert at the Global Strategy Project, a risk consultancy.
The backing for Mr Tsipras came at the end of a month-long campaign that failed to engage weary Greek voters who were making their third trip to the polling booths for a major vote in just nine months.
Casting his vote earlier in the day, Mr Tsipras called for a mandate for a “strong government” that could last four years and help Greece force through the reforms required to put the country back on a path to prosperity.
But he struck a more sombre tone than he did in January when he was elected prime minister on a wave of eu- phoria, promising to force Greece’s eurozone creditors to back down over its austerity demands.
In the event, Mr Tsipras was forced to sign up to a package of reforms that will test any governing coalition to the limit, as Greeks are asked to endure a ferocious round of tax hikes, pension cuts, privatisations and labour reforms in order to access further bailout funds and possible debt relief.
The new Greek government will have only weeks to pass legislation cementing the 60 “prior action” laws needed to retain the confidence of creditors that was so badly damaged during July’s crisis negotiations.
Mr Tsipras’s failed brinkmanship with Europe had been attacked by New Democracy, the conservative establishment party that closed the gap with Syriza in the course of the campaign. Vangelis Meimarakis, the 61-year-old New Democracy leader and former defence minister, had called on voters to banish the “falsehoods and misery” of the Syriza era, and bring in “authentic people” who could competently run the country.
However, Greek voters – while clearly disgruntled with Syriza – were apparently not prepared to return to an establishment party that is widely blamed for the corruption and clientelism that brought Greece to its knees.
Terence Quick, a spokesman for the Independent Greeks party, confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that his party would form a coalition with Mr Tsipras. “Tsipras will be the PM and we will be the guarantee of stability,” he said.