Greek people voted to save euro
Greek conservative New Democracy party won the majority of seats in the new parliament. It will hold nearly 130 seats, including the bonus of 50 seats awarded to the party that won most votes according to the election law. “Today the Greek people expressed their desire to save euro, remain an integral part of eurozone countries, respect state’s commitments, and make country’s economy grow. It is the victory of the whole Europe. I urge all the political parties who share these goals to unite their efforts and create stable new government,” said Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democrats. At the same time, Greek Socialist Party PASOK that supported the agreement with the trio of European Commission, ECB, and IMF on the terms of financial aid package for Greece, won over 30 seats in Vouli [parliament. – Ed.]. These two parties are expected to form a new government.
Given that Ukraine will have its parliament elections in October, it would be useful for many Ukrainian politicians to learn the experience of Greece, where there were two election campaigns held in a very short period of time.
Before the parliamentary elections that took place on May 6 traditional political technology methods of “developed democracies” were used: all major Greek TV channels showed confrontation of the two largest parties, despite the fact that both of them supported the memorandum with the EU and would certainly create a coalition government. Fortunately, the people of Greece were smarter than cheap tricks of the overseas political technologists: the two pro-European parties won the total of only 149 seats (including the bonus of 50 seats) in the parliament, while they would’ve needed 151 seats in order to form coalition.
However, the real sensation was the brilliant result of the left wing coalition SIRIZA that won 17 percent of votes and improved its previous result (compared to the elections of 2009) by 4 times! Perhaps, it was the merit of the young and charismatic leader of the socialists – Alexis Tsipras, who managed to unite around himself not only fragmented patriotic forces, but also the Greek voters. Block SIRIZA lacked only 100,000 votes to win the first place in the elections and get a real chance to form a coalition government.
Since both the pro-European and pro-Greek parties failed to reach an agreement regarding the formation of the coalition government, the parliament was dissolved and new elections were scheduled for June 17. This time it was obvious that it was now impossible to deceive the Greek people and that there was a real chance that the patriotic forces, which are not controlled by the international financial click, can come to power in Greece.
At election rallies Mr. Tsipras went along with the national heroes of Greece such as Manolis Glezos: famous fighter against fascism and the hero of Greek resistance movement (in 2010 during a rally Greek police officers threw a smoke bomb right in the face of 87-year-old veteran, after this Glezos had burns on his face and eyes but never left the protest meeting!). In one of his recent speeches in front of the voters the leader of Greek patriots Tsipras said, addressing Greek people: “I will not betray you!”
In the evening, after the polls were closed, first results of exit poll became known and on Greek TV channels there appeared headlines: “New Democracy – SIRIZA: thriller continues,” because the first results showed that these two political forces were very close. However, later at night it became clear that the leader was New Democracy with 29.6 percent of votes, while SIRIZA received support of only 26.9 percent of voters. Another pro-European party PASOK finished third with the result of 12.3 percent of votes and together with New Democracy they will be able to fulfill their obligations to foreign “friends”: now they have 162 seats in the 300-seat Greek parliament.
We can’t avoid mentioning the international reaction of Greek people “true friends”: the White House was the first to offer its greetings, immediately after that leadership of Germany did the same. Current German Minister of Finance (former German chief policeman – served as the Interior Minister of Germany for many years) Wolfgang Schaeuble said: “The Greek people have shown that New Democracy is a powerful political force that will continue implementation of reforms.” Angela Merkel also expressed her greetings.
I think that Greece really got something we can greet it with because these were the last elections where by some miracle victory was gained by the political force which would rather betray the interests of their own country, the interests of their own people, but would remain true to the international oligarchy with its loyal politicians. Without any doubt, these were the last elections when Greek people appeared to be divided and the division was made neither between “East” and “West,” nor between “rich” and “poor.” Greece was divided by fear and it was the fear that became this borderline which has been already crossed by a part of Greeks and the others will make this step in the next elections: SIRIZA won undeniable support in large cities, especially in Athens, Patras, and also on the island of Crete, while people in depth of the country believed the scary stories that were regularly told by corrupt media and foreign politicians.
What will Greece have in the near future? First of all, there will be formed a new-old pro-European (and anti-Greek) government. After the government will obtain a confidence vote in parliament over the next six months (that is, in fact, by the end of this year) it will be impossible to bring up the possible resignation of the government (under current law). Measures of austerity again will drive people out on the streets, however this time meetings might be already not as peaceful: Greek people will unlikely allow police to use tear gas against veterans and heroes of the World War II, and it is highly unlikely that Greeks will again tolerantly wait for a new special election. It is said that Taras Shevchenko’s poems where he urged to shed enemy’s evil blood were translated also in Greek. It is interesting whether “true friends” of Hellas people know about this fact.
A few weeks ago there appeared collage-article in Greek press where Angela Merkel is depicted in Nazi uniform. Ironic headline of the article was rehashed quote from the inscription on the gates of Auschwitz concentration camp: “Memorandum macht frei” [Memorandum will make us free. – Ed.]. Frankly speaking, I think that it is exactly the opposite.
Let’s see what the peculiarities of the electoral system in Greece are. Parliament consists of 300 deputies, 260 of which are elected by party-proportional system and 40 people received their seats as a bonus for the winning party. Realizing that both New Democracy and PASOK have been gradually loosing support of voters these parties changed the legislation before the elections and increased the bonus for the winning party from 40 to 50 seats in parliament (interesting, why international “democratic” community did not see flagrant violation of democratic principles of election law in this change). In addition, to ensure the continuity of political and economic policy after the elections the international “friends” of Greece – IMF, ECB, and German government made an unprecedented step and forced both pro-European parties to provide commitment letter that would guarantee the fact that after the elections these parties will create coalition government, which will continue the set course of policy. The calculations were accurate: if Greek people would not vote for PASOK they would vote for New Democracy because there was nothing left to vote for as communists from KKE were not really an option for voting. However, even if small parties would get into parliament, the bonus of 50 seats (for the winning party) would be enough to create coalition government that would consist of representatives of the two pro-European (or rather anti-Greek) parties. But things turned out differently.
P.S. It is well known that one can learn from his own mistakes as well as from mistakes made by others. However, in this case it is clear that Ukraine should learn a lesson from the Greek tragedy. As once said famous humorist Mikhail Zhvanetsky: “If it is paradise, why is there barbed wire all around it?”
By Roman KAPUSTII, special to The Day, Athens
