Battle for Greek votes in upswing

TIGHT CALL ‘Yes’, ‘No’ camps gather momentum ahead of Sunday’s referendum

ATHENS: “The terror machine!” screams the Effemerida Ton Sintakton, the left-wing Greek daily, showing a cogwheel with photos of the IMF Chief Christine Lagarde and the leaders of the European Institutions who have a string of nickname samong“no” supporters ranging from “lone sharks” and “economic hitmen” to “blackmailers” and “the evil troika”.

While the conservative paper Demokratia shows pensioners wrestling against barriers to protest the delay in their payments. “What a shame! It’s the Golgotha of the pensioners in banks,” reads the headline. The battle for Greek votes entered full swing on Thursday ahead of a crucial weekend referendum that could decide whether the country falls out of the euro.

Greece’s lenders have halted negotiations on a new financial aid programme until after the vote on whether to accept reforms the creditors proposed last week in exchange for bailout loans.

The local opinion polls on Thursday said that 47.1% are likely to vote “yes” and 43.2% are likely to vote “no” but until Wednesday 70% had still not made up their minds. In general, the youth, among whom unemployment is as high as 50%, say they will vote “no.”

The number of “Yes” supporters seems to be rising after people thronged in Syntagma square on Tuesday evening for the rally supported by the Coalition of Greek Industry. On Monday, the “no” supporters had flooded the streets.

Not everyone seems to agree on what the “yes” and the “no” votes really mean. This confusion afflicts everyone from economists to the common people. In the 72-word text of the referendum there is no references to the word “austerity” which is a deal breaker for the Greeks “euro zone”. Basically, the referendum text is Greek to the Greeks.

It asks them whether they accept the June 25 proposals made by the Eurogroup. But a fresh proposal was sent by the Greek Prime Minister to the troika on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, PM Alexis Tsipras has appealed to his citizens to go for a resounding “no” claiming this will make their position stronger at the negotiation table. The Greek government says it never left the negotiating table but the troika believes they did.

Greek courts are also shut as judiciary officials have been mobilised to organise the referendum.