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Anti-austerity Syriza on course for Greek election win

Source: AFP | January 26, 2015, Monday | Online Edition

RADICAL left-wing party Syriza appeared to be heading for a clear victory in Greece's  election on Sunday, exit polls showed, which would allow it to challenge the course of austerity in Europe.

Syriza took between 35.5 percent and 39.5 percent of the vote, according to the polls, compared to between 23 percent and 27 percent for the conservative New Democracy party of incumbent Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

If the result is confirmed, Syriza would become the first anti-austerity party in government in Europe and its 40-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras would become Greece's youngest prime minister in 150 years.

A Syriza victory is likely to send shockwaves through the austerity-hit European Union and spark fears that Greece could leave the euro.

Syriza wants to renegotiate the terms of Greece's 240-billion-euro ($269 billion) bailout deal with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund which the party says is stifling any chance Greece has of recovering from a six-year recession.

"This appears to be a historic victory, a message that does not only concern the Greek people, it resounds all over Europe and brings relief," Syriza party spokesman Panos Skourletis told Mega TV.

The first official results of the third election in Greece in five years are expected at 1930 GMT.

 

- 'Different kind of politics' -

 

Thousands of Syriza supporters gathered around the party's main campaign platform in a central Athens square to hail their leader.

Antonis Balousis, a 54-year-old butcher, said: "This is a very important victory for Greece and Europe.

"We are going to prove that a different kind of politics is possible in Europe."

Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn and pro-European party To Potami are in a neck-and-neck race for third place with between 6.4 percent and 8.0 percent apiece, the exit polls showed.

Projections showed that Syriza may win an absolute majority of up 158 seats in the 300-seat parliament, meaning it could rule without a coalition partner.

Tsipras said as he voted earlier that Europe must find an alternative to austerity, after Greeks protested at painful measures aimed at pulling the country out of recession and easing its debt crisis.

"Our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity, it is the future of democracy, solidarity and cooperation," he said as he cast his ballot in the capital.

He said Greek people would regain "dignity" under a Syriza government.

In exchange for the massive bailout by the EU and the International Monetary Fund in 2010, Greece was forced to accept stringent cuts in public sector spending and tax and pay cuts.

The possibility of a Syriza-led government reversing those measures has raised concerns that Greece could default on its debt and quit the group of 19 countries using the single European currency, although Syriza says it is not its aim to leave the eurozone.

Samaras said as he voted that Greeks would be taking a huge risk by turning to Syriza.

"Today we decide if are going forward or if we are going towards the unknown," Samaras said.

Tsipras says he will confront the "troika" -- the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank -- to secure a substantial reduction in Greece's debts that total 318 billion euros.

He says international lenders have put Greece in an "unsustainable" position, forced to make spiralling debt repayments while the economy shrinks.

The IMF has warned Greece that failure to repay its debts will carry "consequences".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen as the driving force in the EU's austerity drive, said Friday she wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone "despite the difficulties".

Unicredit chief economist Erik Nielsen said Greece was in for a "volatile month" and a deal was still possible, but the viability of an anti-austerity government was less certain.

Greece has gone into rapid economic decline since the eurozone crisis began, pushing unemployment above 25 percent.

The election was triggered when the Greek parliament failed to elect the country's new president in December.

Tsipras, who grew up in a middle-class Athens family and trained as a civil engineer, says Syriza wants to smash the "oligarchy" that has traditionally dominated Greek politics and the media.

A victory for Syriza could pave the way for other anti-austerity parties to break through in Europe, such as Spain's Podemos.

 

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