GREECE (AND THE E.U.) CHOOSES RED DUSK RATHER THAN GOLDEN DAWN

SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras: Samson between the pillars of the Greek state.

by Dimitrios Papageorgiou

The results of the Greek elections were not really a surprise to any Greek except those hopelessly in love with the previous government. Everyone knew that after five years of austerity, which has been harder on Greece than most wars, a lot of people gave up hope on any chance of a smooth transition to an era of stability, and felt the need to replace their government.

As I have stated in my Vdare article, SYRIZA was effectively pushed into its present position by the supposedly conservative New Democracy Party through the criminalisation of Golden Dawn which was the main opponent of SYRIZA in gathering the votes of those opposed to government policies. The disaffected – and there are many in Greece – were actually funneled by the establishment and the previous government to vote for SYRIZA, since that was the only option seriously opposed to the austerity measures.

GOLDEN DAWN SHEDS LIGHT ON ITSELF

by Dimitrios Papageorgiou

The result of the elections of May 6th in Greece was a stunning defeat of the bipartisan system with the main parties of New Democracy (conservative) and PASOK (socialist) suffering major defeats. New Democracy still managed to come first, with 18.85% of the vote and 108 seats in the parliament (50 bonus seats go to the winner according to a quaint Greek electoral law). This is certainly a Pyrrhic victory compared to its previous showings: 33.47% (2009) and 41.84% (2007). PASOK finished 3rd with a shocking 13.18% and 41 seats, plummeting from 43.92 % (160 seats) in 2009 and 38.10% (102 seats) in 2007.