According to the preliminary
results, the left-radical party SYRIZA won the parliamentary elections
in Greece. The voting results are very close to the forecast
made on the basis of polls (see bar charts). SYRIZA won 10% more votes
than in 2012, and will get 149 (vs 71 previously) seats in the new
Parliament of Greece which does not provide it with the majority
directly, but makes it easy to form the majority in the coalition.
The main message of SYRIZA in the elections was a rejection
of austerity measures imposed on Greece by European Union and the
so-called "Troika". At the same time, the leader of SYRIZA Alexis
Tsipras confirmed his commitment to this course immediately after the
elections, but also stated the absence of intent to declare a default or
to leave the Eurozone.
Broad support of SYRIZA's political platform in Greek
society is not surprising. It can be seen that so-called "policy of
tightening belts" simply did not work (despite the improved current
account), so why should it be continued, and why not to try something
different? It should be also noted, that Alexis Tsipras paid attention
to the most important current challenges (see the data from Fragile
state Index on radar chart below) such as high level of unemployment and
poverty, slow economic growth, low level of public trust in the
government (due to the fact that
the previous government was supported by EU-IMF austerity measures),
external enforcements, tight credit conditions, weak banking system,
relatively high tax level and weak overall business environment. For
that matter, SYRIZA's political platform looks not only like populist one. In fact, it is highly sophisticated, well-designed and based on current economic situation.
