The Greek parliamentary election of 2019: Not so New Democracy shoves scorned Syriza out
The broken dreams of those who supported Alexis Tsipras-who was in 2015 acclaimed as a great white hope for a European fightback against international capitalism only for him to capitulate-decisively turned against Syriza in yesterday's Greek elections.
It is amazing that in fact Syriza's vote share only decreased by 3.9%, meaning that they held onto 89% of their September 2015 vote share and finished second in all the Greek constituencies they did not take pole position in; in practice the splitting up of the oversized Athens B ("Athens Outer") constituency into Athens B1, B2 and B3, representing North, South and West Athens respectively did not have a significant effect. However, finishing second meant they lost the crucial 50 bonus seats given to whichever party comes first in a Greek election, which this year was New Democracy. The 50 bonus seats, which were initially scheduled for abolition for this Greek parliamentary election but were not due to the new electoral law not acquiring the necessary supermajority (i.e. two-thirds of sitting MPs), proved vital to New Democracy gaining a majority of 16 in the Hellenic Parliament.
Frequently in Greek elections, one particular party narrowly misses the 3% threshold. This year it was the fascist Golden Dawn, who lost all their seats with 2.93% of the vote The nationalist and pro-Russian Greek Solution, who won 10 seats, absorbed large portions of their vote, but there was also a concerted effort by progressives and moderates to ensure Golden Dawn would be ejected from the Hellenic Parliament. Meanwhile, the European Realistic Disobedience Front, led by former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, was expected to miss out on seats but in the end managed 3.48% of the vote and 9 seats, partly due to its promise of the equivalent of a Green New Deal gaining traction amongst dissatisfied Syriza supporters. A similar splinter group, Course for Freedom led by former Speaker Zoe Konstantopolou, failed to win any seats with just 1.46% of the vote. The key reason for its failure was that its political platform was too similar to Mera25's albeit with more Euroscepticism and Yanis was better known than Zoe.
The Movement for Change failed to make any significant advance, polling 8.1% of the vote and a distant third place with 22 seats. Two main component parties, The River and DIMAR, left the coalition due to PASOK's problematic dominance of the coalition. Despite Syriza's failures to follow through on its promises to unlock the grip of the Troika (the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank) on Greece, the Communists stayed on 15 seats. The Union of Centrists, though in opposition, polled a dismal 1.24% of the vote, lower than in January 2015, and lost all 9 seats. Within the course of the September 2015-July 2019 parliament, four MPs left that party with one of them later joining Syriza; internal party splits always reflect badly on political parties throughout the world and the Union of Centrists paid the price. The Independent Greeks did not even run in this election, having lost half of their 2015 parliamentary contingent, with leader Panos Kammenos supporting New Democracy instead. ND would have won that majority with or without the intervention of ANEL, however, who were almost certain to be eliminated from the Hellenic Parliament on prior opinion polls. No other party obtained 1% of the votes cast, and notably all the revolutionary socialist parties including Antarsya lost many of the few votes they received in September 2015 with Antarsya's already poor vote halving.
The key to victory for ND's leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, son of former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis and the uncle of Mayor-elect of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis, and a relative of many other prominent Greek politicians past and present, was attracting young voters who wanted change and were sick of the many broken promises of Syriza, and who did not want to turn back to PASOK or any coalition involving it, KINAL or otherwise. ND also polled particularly well amongst pensioners as well, with 55% of Greeks over 60 voting for ND compared to only 24% voting for Syriza.
Syriza had the chance to turn around the crisis situation in Greece, even if it meant exiting the Euro currency and possibly the European Union, and they squandered it. New Democracy's victory yesterday will just mean a continuation of the current problems in Greece.
It is amazing that in fact Syriza's vote share only decreased by 3.9%, meaning that they held onto 89% of their September 2015 vote share and finished second in all the Greek constituencies they did not take pole position in; in practice the splitting up of the oversized Athens B ("Athens Outer") constituency into Athens B1, B2 and B3, representing North, South and West Athens respectively did not have a significant effect. However, finishing second meant they lost the crucial 50 bonus seats given to whichever party comes first in a Greek election, which this year was New Democracy. The 50 bonus seats, which were initially scheduled for abolition for this Greek parliamentary election but were not due to the new electoral law not acquiring the necessary supermajority (i.e. two-thirds of sitting MPs), proved vital to New Democracy gaining a majority of 16 in the Hellenic Parliament.
Frequently in Greek elections, one particular party narrowly misses the 3% threshold. This year it was the fascist Golden Dawn, who lost all their seats with 2.93% of the vote The nationalist and pro-Russian Greek Solution, who won 10 seats, absorbed large portions of their vote, but there was also a concerted effort by progressives and moderates to ensure Golden Dawn would be ejected from the Hellenic Parliament. Meanwhile, the European Realistic Disobedience Front, led by former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, was expected to miss out on seats but in the end managed 3.48% of the vote and 9 seats, partly due to its promise of the equivalent of a Green New Deal gaining traction amongst dissatisfied Syriza supporters. A similar splinter group, Course for Freedom led by former Speaker Zoe Konstantopolou, failed to win any seats with just 1.46% of the vote. The key reason for its failure was that its political platform was too similar to Mera25's albeit with more Euroscepticism and Yanis was better known than Zoe.
The Movement for Change failed to make any significant advance, polling 8.1% of the vote and a distant third place with 22 seats. Two main component parties, The River and DIMAR, left the coalition due to PASOK's problematic dominance of the coalition. Despite Syriza's failures to follow through on its promises to unlock the grip of the Troika (the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank) on Greece, the Communists stayed on 15 seats. The Union of Centrists, though in opposition, polled a dismal 1.24% of the vote, lower than in January 2015, and lost all 9 seats. Within the course of the September 2015-July 2019 parliament, four MPs left that party with one of them later joining Syriza; internal party splits always reflect badly on political parties throughout the world and the Union of Centrists paid the price. The Independent Greeks did not even run in this election, having lost half of their 2015 parliamentary contingent, with leader Panos Kammenos supporting New Democracy instead. ND would have won that majority with or without the intervention of ANEL, however, who were almost certain to be eliminated from the Hellenic Parliament on prior opinion polls. No other party obtained 1% of the votes cast, and notably all the revolutionary socialist parties including Antarsya lost many of the few votes they received in September 2015 with Antarsya's already poor vote halving.
The key to victory for ND's leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, son of former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis and the uncle of Mayor-elect of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis, and a relative of many other prominent Greek politicians past and present, was attracting young voters who wanted change and were sick of the many broken promises of Syriza, and who did not want to turn back to PASOK or any coalition involving it, KINAL or otherwise. ND also polled particularly well amongst pensioners as well, with 55% of Greeks over 60 voting for ND compared to only 24% voting for Syriza.
Syriza had the chance to turn around the crisis situation in Greece, even if it meant exiting the Euro currency and possibly the European Union, and they squandered it. New Democracy's victory yesterday will just mean a continuation of the current problems in Greece.
Comments
Post a Comment