FREDERICTON, N.B. — The outcome of the recent Greek election was not a surprise. What was a surprise was the massive electoral support that a relatively neophyte political party received at the ballot box.
The clear and undisputed winner of the national Greek election was the left-wing political party the goes by the acronym SYRIZA, composed of a coalition of the radical left and the disenchanted supporters of several traditional political parties.
By the time all the votes were counted on Sunday night, SYRIZA had garnered an impressive 36.3 per cent share of the total vote. This translated into 149 seats in the 300 seat new Greek parliament, only two seats short of an outright majority.
With unprecedented speed for Greek politics, the new prime minister-elect formed a governing coalition with the smaller Independent Greeks party that had come in fourth and won 13 seats. The coalition deal between the two neophyte parties that vehemently oppose the German imposed austerity measures in Greece had been sealed before noon the day after the national election.
The emergence of a SYRIZA government signalled a powerful message that Greek voters had abandoned the two mainstream political parties, New Democracy and the socialist PASOK, that had ruled Greece for the last 40 years.
The completely secular swearing-in of the new Greek prime minister, 40 year old Alexis Tsipras, in the early afternoon - devoid of historical tradition and religious trappings - was a carefully choreographed message to the world. It said that Greece had turned a political corner and that from now on the political business of the nation would be conducted in anything but the usual manner.
By the end of the afternoon and less than 24 hours after his party was declared the winner of the national Greek election, the new prime minister had completed all the prerequisites for formally assuming office and had signalled a new era had begun in Greek politics.
SYRIZA's forceful tone during the campaign of political defiance and its preparedness to take on the forces behind the imposition of the despised austerity measures appealed to the average Greek voter who came to believe the party best articulated their economic despair.
There is no denying that, in the weeks ahead, the new populist SYRIZA government will have a Herculean task to overcome as it proceeds to translate its election platform into political and economic reality.
The two coalition partners, SYRIZA and Independent Greeks, are determined to take a hard line approach to bringing an end to foreign-imposed austerity measures, in renegotiating the terms of the 240 billion euros bailout package and to lifting the Greek economy from its six year comatose and depression era state of economic affairs.
On the European political front, SYRIZA' decisive victory is expected to empower similar populist parties in the southern Mediterranean, in particular the left-wing Podemos party in Spain and the Five Star Movement in Italy, which find common ground in their anti-austerity stand among Europe's economically-depressed periphery.
But another subliminal victory has largely unnoticed in the euphoria of SYRIZA's political victory. The global provincial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed gave birth to two new schools of economic thought. On the one hand are the proponents of fiscal austerity, whose advocates are single-mindedly focused on reigning in government excesses and browbeating fiscal discipline regardless of the economic and social costs to civil society. The second school of thought embraces an economic doctrine that is decidedly anti-austerity and, instead, proposes fiscal measures to grow the economy, create jobs and reform the antiquated institutions of economic governance.
On election night in Greece, the people's choice award went to the anti-austerity school of economic thought.
FREDERICTON, NB/ Troy Media/ - The outcome of the recent Greek election was not a surprise. What was a surprise was the massive electoral support that a relatively neophyte political party received at the ballot box.
The clear and undisputed winner of the national Greek election was the left-wing political party the goes by the acronym SYRIZA, composed of a coalition of the radical left and the disenchanted supporters of several traditional political parties.
By the time all the votes were counted on Sunday night, SYRIZA had garnered an impressive 36.3 per cent share of the total vote. This translated into 149 seats in the 300 seat new Greek parliament, only two seats short of an outright majority.
With unprecedented speed for Greek politics, the new prime minister-elect formed a governing coalition with the smaller Independent Greeks party that had come in fourth and won 13 seats. The coalition deal between the two neophyte parties that vehemently oppose the German imposed austerity measures in Greece had been sealed before noon the day after the national election.
The emergence of a SYRIZA government signalled a powerful message that Greek voters had abandoned the two mainstream political parties, New Democracy and the socialist PASOK, that had ruled Greece for the last 40 years.
The completely secular swearing-in of the new Greek prime minister, 40 year old Alexis Tsipras, in the early afternoon - devoid of historical tradition and religious trappings - was a carefully choreographed message to the world. It said that Greece had turned a political corner and that from now on the political business of the nation would be conducted in anything but the usual manner.
By the end of the afternoon and less than 24 hours after his party was declared the winner of the national Greek election, the new prime minister had completed all the prerequisites for formally assuming office and had signalled a new era had begun in Greek politics.
SYRIZA's forceful tone during the campaign of political defiance and its preparedness to take on the forces behind the imposition of the despised austerity measures appealed to the average Greek voter who came to believe the party best articulated their economic despair.
There is no denying that, in the weeks ahead, the new populist SYRIZA government will have a Herculean task to overcome as it proceeds to translate its election platform into political and economic reality.
The two coalition partners, SYRIZA and Independent Greeks, are determined to take a hard line approach to bringing an end to foreign-imposed austerity measures, in renegotiating the terms of the 240 billion euros bailout package and to lifting the Greek economy from its six year comatose and depression era state of economic affairs.
On the European political front, SYRIZA' decisive victory is expected to empower similar populist parties in the southern Mediterranean, in particular the left-wing Podemos party in Spain and the Five Star Movement in Italy, which find common ground in their anti-austerity stand among Europe's economically-depressed periphery.
But another subliminal victory has largely unnoticed in the euphoria of SYRIZA's political victory. The global provincial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed gave birth to two new schools of economic thought. On the one hand are the proponents of fiscal austerity, whose advocates are single-mindedly focused on reigning in government excesses and browbeating fiscal discipline regardless of the economic and social costs to civil society. The second school of thought embraces an economic doctrine that is decidedly anti-austerity and, instead, proposes fiscal measures to grow the economy, create jobs and reform the antiquated institutions of economic governance.
On election night in Greece, the people's choice award went to the anti-austerity school of economic thought.
— Dr. Constantine Passaris is a Professor of Economics at the University of New Brunswick, an Onassis Foundation Fellow (Greece) and a Research Affiliate of the Prentice Institute for Global Population & Economy at the University of Lethbridgeis a Professor of Economics at the University of New Brunswick, an Onassis Foundation Fellow (Greece) and a Research Affiliate of the Prentice Institute for Global Population & Economy at the University of Lethbridge.
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