Yesterday Strikes Back

The Greek elections results yesterday is a huge blow to Europe. Some thoughts via Ekathimerini.

The Greeks voted with their eye on yesterday and they opened the door to tomorrow. Wishing to return to an ideal age – where they could escape from the demands of our partners and creditors – the voters destroyed the two-party political system, they fragmented the center and brought the extremes into the center of developments. Last night’s result did not leave much room for the formation of a coalition by any section of the new Parliament – neither by the parties who abide by the loan agreement nor by those which shape the “no” front.

If we go for new elections immediately it is not at all certain that New Democracy and PASOK will get back any of their old power (until 2009 they shared more than 80 percent of the vote, whereas yesterday they got barely 35 percent together). With at least seven parties in Parliament and none gaining more than 20 percent, our politicians will have to face three major challenges: they must learn to cooperate on equal terms, without any one party forming a strong pole, without one party trying to gain an advantage over another; they must deal with the neonazi Chrysi Avgi, which is now in Parliament; they must find a way to be credible partners in talks with our creditors, now that the PASOK-ND government under Lucas Papademos is gone. (full article here.)