Hello Everyone,

This is my second post in the series Elections in Other Countries.  The election featured here is in Greece.

On May 21, Greeks will go to the polls to elect 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament.  It takes 151 members of a particular party to get a majority, but it is unlikely that any one party can form a majority.  There are predictions that a second election might be needed if no one party can form a government.

In the past 15 years, Greece has been through hell and back.  Following the 2008 Financial Crisis, Greece’s Debt as related to GDP reached a point where the country was on the brink of insolvency.  In response to that, the EU, the IMF, and Germany (the “Troika”) put together a bailout package which came with strict conditions regarding budget cuts that Greece was mandated to make.  Greece got a second bailout package in 2012, and got a final bailout in 2015 (not without some drama, more on that later in the post)  Over the intervening years, the bloated budget was trimmed, the money was repaid, and the Troika ceased their oversight of Greece, but not before Greece’s GDP shrank by 25 percent.  Over the past 8 years, Greece’s economy has recovered, and unemployment has lowered.

There are two main parties competing to form the next government.  

1.  New Democracy:  A center-right political party, it is the party which won the last election in 2019.  Led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Misotakis, it has been leading the polls for the past year, and is favored to win a second term in office.  New Democracy during the election campaign has touted tax cuts they’ve enacted, which is running a surplus, and the economic growth that has occurred during the past 4 years.  They also are highlighting Misotakis’s steady leadership regarding COVID-19.  Misotakis pledged that a second term would see the continuation of the growth that occurred during the past 4 years.  The party is aiming to lower unemployment to 8.5 percent from the current 11 percent. The party has suffered some scandals in the past year, including a wiretapping scandal that involved tapping the phones of opposition politicians, and a deadly rail crash.

2. SYRIZA:  A far left political party, it is the main opposition to the government.  SYRIZA rose in popularity in the wake of the debt crisis, and they got into power after the 2015 elections.  At that time, there were negotiations between the EU and the IMF for a third bailout, and the SYRIZA Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras told them to pound sand.  They then tried to negotiate better terms for Greece, but the two institutions, plus Germany, the so-called “troika” barely budged.  It put Greece, and the EU in a precarious position, as everyone wondered whether Greece would leave the Eurozone, or just financially collapse.  When all seemed lost, Tsipras stood down and accepted the terms of the third bailout put forward by the troika.  

Under Tsipras’s premiership, the fiscal status of Greece improved, the Troika removed their supervision, and the economic conditions began to improve.  Nevertheless, SYRIZA could not translate that success into a reelection victory, losing the 2019 elections.  Tsipras stayed on as opposition leader, and is trying to regain his old job.  SYRIZA was down by 8 percentage points to New Democracy, but has closed the gap somewhat in the last few weeks 

In the opposition, they have been highly critical of New Democracy and some of their policies.  They attacked New Democracy after a deadly rail accident occurred earlier this year for not doing enough to shore up rail safety standards.  They have also criticized the government for harsh policies regarding refugees that enter their shores, and for police corruption/brutality.  SYRIZA has campaigned on spending more on public education, and increasing the wages for civil servants. They have also campaigned on making sure defense contracts are awarded to Greek firms.

In addition to the two main parties, there are several other parties that are competing in the upcoming elections.

PASOK-KINAL:  A center-left party, PASOK used to be the main left-wing party for decades.  But they were in power when the Debt crisis first hit, and were wiped in subsequent elections.  They got revived as part of a coalition with two other parties, and got 8 percent in the 2019 elections.  Now they are in line to be the third largest political party, polling at 10-11 percent.  It is campaigning on strengthening the health care system and moving away from fossil fuels.

The Communist Party (KKE):  A far-left political party, it is polling at 4-5 percent.

Greek Solution:  A right wing political party, it is campaigning on increasing oil and gas production.  It is also advocating the idea of having alternate plans in case a situation like the Debt Crisis happens again.

MRE25:  A far left party founded by Yanis Varoukakis, the former SYRIZA finance minister who resigned when Tsipras accepted the demands by the troika.  It won 3.4 percent of the vote, just enough for it to enter parliament in the 2019 election, and is polling at a similar amount this time around.  Varoufakis and his party are campaigning on the idea of creating an alternate currency, the “Dimitra“, that can be used to make payments without being charged bank fees.

That is all.  Have you been following the Greek election at all?  Comment below.