By: Ani Nrusimha
Greece had an election – again.
Political power has been shifting fast and discontent has grown in Greece, which has been suffering from political and economic turmoil since the recession. Greece’s issue of sky-high debt — caused by a lack of tax collection and rampant spending — has put them into a series of situations where they can’t pay their debts unless the rest of the European Union bails them out. Because of the way the European Union works, Germany and France cannot just leave Greece’s economy to the wolves, as this would cause a ripple effect across the Union. In their eyes this seems like something holding them back, a weight put in place by Greece’s lax monetary policies which were not politically or economically sound. So, in return for bailing out Greece, Germany in particular has demanded tough economic reforms and the competing influences of the two groups have led to many adverse situations.
Fast forward to this January, when the economic strife and the pain being felt by the citizens of Greece led them to elect a radical left wing party to head the country’s government. This party, known as the Syriza party, campaigned on an anti-austerity platform. Its leader, Alex Tsipras, quickly formed a coalition (a few parties that band together to form a new majority party). He quickly set out on his goals to fix the “humanitarian crisis” he saw in Greece, attempting to negotiate with the Germans and others to soften the austerity measures. One of his most notable actions was calling a popular election to approve an austerity measure, a decision that received mixed reactions. The resounding negative response he got from this was not surprising, yet it dissuaded the people with whom he was negotiating. Interestingly enough, Fidel Castro, the ruler of Cuba, congratulated Tsipras for this action.
However, for members of his own party, agreeing with the Germans at all was too much to give up. They contended that any austerity was too much austerity, and fought with the President. To them, he had become what he should have hated most: a bureaucrat who signed an austerity deal. In August, he made another attention-seeking move by resigning from his position.
This set the stage for the election, which was on September 21st. The Greeks overwhelmingly elected Tsipras and the Syriza party, consolidating his power and giving him more strength going forward. He was given what political scientists called a mandate, which came to 63% of vote. However, not all was for the best for Tsipras. The victory came arguably on the back of the lowest voter turnout in Greek history, and the next bailout deal is yet to come.
By: Sherrie Chen