Victorious Tsipras proves to be canny gambler
GREECE’S radical leader Alexis Tsipras pulled off the biggest gamble of his already dramatic political career as he romped to victory in a snap election yesterday.
His high-stakes decision to go to the country when the far-left rump of his Syriza party went into open rebellion against him, paid off.
Many had thought Tsipras’ U-turn in signing a painful austerity deal with the debt-ridden country’s creditors days after he had called a referendum to reject it, would cost him dearly.
But in the end Greeks seemed to trust their rookie prime minister more than the traditional parties who created the economic mess the country is in.
Frustratingly for the charismatic young leader, early results indicated that he would fall just short of an absolute majority for a second time and was poised to reform a coalition with the nationalist Independent Greeks.
Syriza’s emphatic win also defied the polls, which suggested the race with the right-wing New Democracy party — supposedly revived by its new leader Evangelos Meimarakis — was too close to call. “I think the goal of an absolute majority is totally achievable,” Mr Tsipras predicted ahead of the vote.
“Syriza will certainly be the biggest political party in the country.”
The first radical-left leader to win office in the European Union (EU), his victory in January’s general election caused a political earthquake, and boosted other anti-austerity movements on the rise elsewhere in the eurozone, particularly in Spain.
The boyish smile has lost a little of its edge since, and Tsipras has gained weight too after months of late nights haggling with EU and International Monetary Fund creditors trying to keep Greece afloat.
But yesterday’s result has shown he has matured into a canny political operator, deftly offloading Syriza’s rebellious unreconstructed Marxists — as well as his flamboyant and voluble former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis — while consolidating his position as head.
While he may be tired, Greek voters are equally exhausted. The election was the third this year alone, and the fifth since 2010, when news of the country’s deep financial troubles first emerged.
Mr Tsipras had said the poll was a chance to deliver a “key message” to Europe against austerity and the rule of the rich.
The vote was about whether “the old system that governed for 40 years is going to return or if we are going to take a step forward”, he told supporters at his final rally on Friday.
His roller-coaster seven months in power, which saw him repeatedly lock horns with other European leaders, has made him a wiser man, he believes.
“The other word to describe our mistakes is ‘experience’, and I am more experienced now,” he said during a televised debate this month.
Mr Tsipras has a reputation for bold gambles, but in July he took one of his riskiest by agreeing to the kind of tough reforms he and a clear majority of Greeks had rejected in a referendum in exchange for a new €86bn bailout to keep the country afloat.
Days later, 25 hardline Syriza MPs quit the party, stripping Tsipras of his parliamentary majority.
He stepped down as prime minister on August 20, calling a new poll in the hope of returning in a stronger position.
Mr Tsipras came to power by accusing creditors of bringing the country to its knees through steep spending cuts.
His roller-coaster seven months in power has made him a wiser man, he believes