Greek
parliamentary elections on Sunday resulted in a stunning collapse in
the vote for the two main governing parties, PASOK and New Democracy,
which received only 32 percent of the vote between them.
The result is a clear popular
repudiation of the policies of austerity, dictated by the EU,
international banks and the Greek ruling class. The main beneficiaries
of the shift in popular sentiment to the left, however, do not represent
a genuine alternative.
Official projections late Sunday
predicted that PASOK and New Democracy would fall one seat short of
being able to form a majority in parliament. That they are even close to
the required number is only due to an anti-democratic provision that
automatically allocates an additional 50 seats to the party winning the
highest percentage of the vote—in this case, New Democracy.
In a further indication of
public disgust with the political system, the abstention rate was a
record-breaking high of nearly 40 percent, according to estimates from
the interior ministry. This is much higher than in the three previous
elections, where abstention rates ranged from 25 to 30 percent.
In recent years the government
has carried out historically unprecedented social cuts that have led to
real wage losses of up to two-thirds, youth unemployment of more than 50
percent, and mass poverty and homelessness.
The parties that verbally
opposed this policy registered strong electoral gains. The Coalition of
the Radical Left (SYRIZA) was able to triple its vote from 4.6 percent
to 16.8 percent. It has overtaken PASOK as second largest party in
parliament. During its campaign, SYRIZA declared its intention to
renegotiate austerity measures. It promised substantial investment in
infrastructure, education and other social programs.
The Democratic Left, which split
off from SYRIZA in 2010 in order to take a more pro-PASOK orientation,
also criticized the austerity measures during its election campaign. In
its first ever election it received 5 percent.
Both SYRIZA and the Democratic
Left, which speak for better off sections of the middle class, are well
practiced in a politics that is aimed at keeping mass discontent
shackled to the trade unions and PASOK.
The Communist Party of Greece
(KKE) was only able to slightly improve its vote from 7.5 percent to 8.5
percent. The Greek electorate has a long experience of the opportunism
of the Stalinist KKE and does not trust the party to in any way
challenge the political establishment. The Greek Greens and the
Democratic Alliance won just 3 percent of the vote respectively.
The right-wing parties, which
have been systematically built up in the media in recent weeks, received
a relatively small share of the vote. The LAOS party, which
participated for a short time in government, lost votes. The neo-fascist
Golden Dawn gained 7 percent and will enter the new parliament.
The right-wing populist party,
the Independent Greeks, won 10.6 percent of the vote. The party was
founded in February this year by former ND deputies led by Panos
Kammenos, after they were expelled from the ND for failing to support
the last austerity package. The party made xenophobia its central
election issue, combining social demands such as a reversal of the cuts
with an extremely nationalist perspective.
These parties were given a
massive boost in the election campaign by PASOK and ND. The two
governing parties sought to outdo one another with xenophobic and
nationalistic demagogy and practice in an attempt to direct popular
anger against the cuts into right-wing channels. In doing so they paved
the way for the extreme right.
For its part, SYRIZA announced
that it is prepared to make a pact with the racist Independent Greeks in
the event of an election victory.
The elections will further
destabilize the political situation in Greece. PASOK and ND had been
able to rule previously with a comfortable parliamentary advantage. Now
they will be unable to put together a governing majority. The European
press is already debating whether a new government will be stable enough
to enforce the planned cuts, or whether there should be new elections.
Any new Greek government intent
on continuing the austerity policies of the EU will face massive
opposition from the population. In this situation, there is a serious
danger that the ruling elite will respond by seeking to integrate the
right and extreme right-wing parties in government and thereby establish
authoritarian forms of rule in order to brutally suppress all popular
resistance.
At the same time there would be
nothing progressive in the formation of a coalition government involving
nominally left-wing parties. Both SYRIZA and the Democratic Left have
repeatedly made clear that they are determined to remain in the EU and
would merely seek to re-negotiate the austerity measures. Such a
government would follow the example of PASOK and work together with the
trade unions and various petty-bourgeois groups to enforce the cuts
against the working population.
Such a formation would also
receive the backing of the KKE. The KKE will assume the role of
stewarding and disciplining protests in order to render them harmless
for the new government. It already has a track record in this respect
with regard to the outgoing government.
The Greek election result is
indicative of a swing to the left by broad sections of the electorate
and working masses. At the same time, the pseudo-left organizations that
have profited from this swing have made clear that they are intent on
maintaining and defending the existing order. The election is the
prelude to a new round of fierce social conflicts that can only be
resolved by the construction of a new revolutionary socialist leadership
in Greece.
Global Research Articles by Christoph Dreier
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