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Tag: Greek politics

  • Greece’s conservatives win election majority to secure second term

    Greece’s conservatives win election majority to secure second term

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    ATHENS — Greece’s conservatives won big on Sunday’s parliamentary elections, securing an outright majority. Far-right parties also made gains, while the left struggled, giving Greece’s parliament its most rightward slant since the restoration of democracy in 1974.

    The New Democracy party of Kyriakos Mitsotakis managed to widen its double-digit lead over its main rival, the left-wing Syriza party, and secured 158 seats in the country’s 300-seat parliament, under the new electoral system which awards the winning party 50 bonus seats.

    “Our goals are high and must be high in a second term that can transform Greece with dynamic growth rates that will raise wages and reduce inequalities,” Mitsotakis said in his first message from his party’s headquarters.

    “People gave us a safe majority. The major reforms will therefore proceed with speed as this is the choice of the Greek people and I will honor it in full.”

    Sunday’s elections were the second held in the country in five weeks, after New Democracy came first on May 21 but fell short of an outright majority.

    New Democracy got 40.5 percent of the vote on Sunday, while Syriza was lagging with only 17.8 percent and 47 seats, according to official results. The socialist PASOK party had 11.9 percent and 32 seats, and the communists KKE had 7.6 percent and 20 seats. The participation rate was at 52.7 percent, the Interior Ministry reported.

    Far-right gains

    Four fringe parties — mainly from the far-right — also managed to top the 3 percent threshold to make it into parliament.

    Last-minute contender the Spartans party — which recently added a jailed MP from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, Ilias Kasidiaris, to its list of backers — saw its support rise to 4.7 percent within days and secured 13 seats in parliament. The conservative government had passed an amendment aiming to ban him from parliament.

    New Democracy’s dominance is another sign of how Southern European countries are moving to the right, after a decades-long financial crisis in the eurozone that led the rise of left-wing parties.

    Ultra-nationalist, pro-Russian Greek Solution got 4.5 percent and 12 seats, while anti-abortion, religious party Niki got 3.7 percent and 10 MPs. To the left, Course of Freedom, led by former member of Syriza Zoi Konstantopoulou, got 3.1 percent and 8 seats.

    The far right has performed well in recent elections in Finland and Spain, and is polling particularly well in Germany. Its savvier elements — like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — are beginning to assert themselves at the European level.

    But the main story of Sunday’s election was New Democracy’s dominance, which is another sign of how Southern European countries are moving to the right, after a decades-long financial crisis in the eurozone that led to the rise of left-wing parties.

    “This is a clear victory for Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for [New Democracy] and for the EPP,” said Thanasis Bakolas, the center-right European People’s Party secretary general.

    “In politics, what you stand for matters. This is what we see in Greece, also what we saw earlier this year in national elections in Finland and regional elections in Spain. And this is precisely what we will see again in upcoming parliamentary elections in Spain in July and Poland in October. EPP parties are dominating the centre, while the centre-left is barricaded to its fringes.”

    The election outcome is considered market-friendly and puts Greece firmly on track to regain an investment-grade rating towards the end of the year, analysts say.

    Mitsotakis has promised that his first two bills will include a further reform of the public administration and the economy. He has also promised overhauls in the judicial, health and education sectors and expressed his intention to create a family ministry to help address Greece’s shrinking, and ageing, population.

    “The resounding victory will provide ND with a comfortable majority, putting Mitsotakis in a good position to push through investor-friendly reforms,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of risk analysis company Teneo.

    But the fringe parties will have a platform to broadcast their populist message and attempt to disrupt the government’s agenda, exploiting politically toxic issues like migration, the relationship with Turkey, abortion, the role of religion in education, Russia sanctions, he added.

    “It remains to be seen how Mitsotakis — often perceived to be more vulnerable to attacks from the far-right given his distinct liberal, center-right orientation — will manage to deal with the possible challenge posed by far-right opposition lawmakers.”

    Main opposition Syriza performed very poorly, raising questions about whether its status as the main opposition could now be challenged by Pasok party. It also means that conservatives could govern without particular scrutiny.

    “Although the danger of collapse was avoided and Syriza remains the official opposition, we have suffered a serious electoral defeat,” the party’s leader Alexis Tsipras said, setting the European elections next year as a goal for the party’s reimposition and adding that he will put his leadership to the judgment of the party members.

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    Nektaria Stamouli

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  • Greece’s conservatives achieve landslide victory but fall short of majority

    Greece’s conservatives achieve landslide victory but fall short of majority

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    ATHENS — Greece’s conservative ruling party achieved a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, but it will have to wait for a second vote later this summer in its bid to secure an outright majority.

    The New Democracy party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis managed to gain a double-digit lead over its main rival, the left-wing Syriza party, and was missing only a few seats for a majority even with the new proportional representation system, according to early results.

    “The political earthquake that occurred today calls on all of us to accelerate the process for a final governmental solution,” Mitsotakis declared Sunday evening from his party headquarters.

    “The data from the ballot box is catalytic — it proves that New Democracy has the approval to govern independently and strongly and they demanded it emphatically, in an absolute way,” he said.

    With 75 percent of the votes counted, New Democracy was poised to get 40.8 percent of the vote and 145 seats in the 300-seat parliament. Syriza was lagging with only 20.1 percent and 72 seats, while the Socialist Pasok party had 11.7 percent and 42 seats. The Communists KKE had 7.1 percent and 25 seats and the nationalist Greek Solution 4.5 percent and 16 seats.

    Three smaller parties that initially looked poised to get 3 percent and top the threshold to make it to parliament, eventually scored lower. The participation rate was at 59.2 percent, the Interior Ministry reported.

    Nonetheless, New Democracy didn’t gather the percentage of votes — 45 percent — needed to win an outright majority.

    Mitsotakis managed to gain among voters despite his premiership being burdened with a spying scandal, spiraling inflation and mounting concerns over the rule of law.

    “Our collective bodies will be convened immediately in order to evaluate the election results,” said Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, calling the results extremely negative for his party.

    However, he said “the election cycle is not yet over, as there will probably be a second election and therefore, we do not have the time to wait. We must immediately make all changes necessary, in order to give the best possible conditions to the next crucial and final electoral battle.”

    “It is a devastating outcome for the opposition, especially for Syriza,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of risk analysis company Teneo.

    “It will take a long time for the main opposition party to recover, leaving New Democracy in a position to dominate Greek politics and run the government with no meaningful scrutiny,” he said.

    “The outcome of today’s vote will be welcome by investors, but ND’s dominance of the political system together with a weak opposition may raise concerns about clientelism and the quality of policy-making,” Piccoli added.

    “The resounding victory of New Democracy sends a clear and undisputed message all over Europe,” said Thanasis Bakolas, the center-right European People’s Party secretary general, adding that this is the first time since 2000 in Greece that the incumbent government emerges stronger after its term.

    “A message to Brussels? — Today’s electoral result is a clear message against all those outside Greece who have consistently questioned the quality of Greek democracy and the will of the Greek people,” Bakolas added.

    Starting from Monday, each of the three leading parties will get the mandate to form a government, starting with the winner, before passing to the second and then third party. Each one will have up to three days to try to form a government.

    If there is no agreement on a coalition, the parliament elected on Sunday will be sworn in and then dissolved, paving the way for a second round of elections to take place and a caretaker government will be sworn in.

    Bolstered by his triumph, Mitsotakis is expected to immediately seek a second vote, rejecting the option of a coalition after this first round of voting.

    That means Greeks will probably head to the ballot boxes again on June 25 or July 2, with New Democracy poised to gain an outright majority, thanks to a system that grants the winning party in the second round up to 50 bonus seats.

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    Nektaria Stamouli

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  • Former Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis attacked in central Athens

    Former Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis attacked in central Athens

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    ATHENS — Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was attacked in central Athens late on Friday, suffering a broken nose, cuts and bruises.

    The assault, which his party DiEM25 described as a “brazen fascist attack,” took place while Varoufakis was dining in the central Exarchia district with party members from all over Europe.

    “A small group of thugs stormed the place shouting aggressively, falsely accusing him of signing off on Greece’s bailouts with the troika [the country’s bailout creditors],” DiEM25 said in a statement. “Varoufakis stood up to talk to them, but they immediately responded with violence, savagely beating him while filming the scene.”

    Politicians from across the political spectrum swiftly condemned the assault in Varoufakis, the motorbike-riding, leather-jacket-wearing politician who became well-known as the country’s finance minister in 2015.  

    As part of the left-wing Syriza-led Greek government, Varoufakis battled the so-called troika and Europe-imposed austerity. While the Greek administration eventually capitulated and signed a bailout agreement, Varoufakis quit government and founded a cross-border far-left political movement, DiEM25.

    “They were not anarchists, leftists, communists or members of any movement,” Varoufakis said in a tweet early Saturday. “Thugs for hire they were (and looked it), who clumsily invoked the lie that I sold out to the troika. We shall not let them divide us.”

    The Exarchia neighborhood has a reputation for being a bastion of self-styled anarchists. Varoufakis was publicly harassed in 2015 while dining in the same district at the height of the financial crisis.

    Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Takis Theodorikakos said police would take all measures to identify and arrest the perpetrators of Friday’s attack. He noted that the DiEM25 leader, “at his own initiative, was not accompanied by his personal police detail” while at the restaurant.

    Greece has been hit by the biggest mass demonstrations since the eurozone crisis in recent days, as Greeks have taken to the streets almost on a daily basis to protest the country’s deadliest train crash, ramping up pressure on the conservative New Democracy government ahead of coming elections. The wave of public rage follows a train collision on February 28 that killed 57 people and raised profound questions about the management of the rail system.

    The train crash has also sparked deeper questions about the functioning of the Greek state and fresh anger against the political system.

    “Let us please stay focused: We are mourning the 57 victims of rail privatization. We support the spontaneous youth rallies, the greatest hope that Greece can change. See you at the demonstrations,” Varoufakis tweeted, as another big rally is scheduled for Sunday.

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    Nektaria Stamouli

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