Greek exit polls: Top 2 parties neck and neck

[Tony_FLADEM]

Source: The Seattle Times

ATHENS, Greece —
Greek exit polls are showing the two top contenders in the country's critical elections to be neck-and-neck. They say the conservative New Democracy party is projected to win between 27.5 and 30.5 percent of the vote while the anti-bailout radical left Syriza party may get 27 to 30 percent.

The outcome of Sunday's vote could determine whether Greece remains in the euro or is forced to leave the joint currency, a move which could drag down other European countries and have unforeseen consequences for the global economy. Whichever party comes first in Sunday's vote gets a bonus of 50 seats in the 300-member Parliament



Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018454834_apeugreeceelection.html

[grahamhgreen]

1. Go Syriza!

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. This is getting very interesting.

I want to cheer for Syriza, but who knows what happens if they win?

[TBF]

7. Syriza is not "radical"

They are leftist, but they are not hard-lined communists. I will leave it up to the reader whether this is a good thing or not, but it is a misrepresentation to label the party as "radical". Here is an interesting article on this -

"SYRIZA Is Acting Responsibly":
Interview with Yanis Varoufakis
by Matthias Breitinger

The German taxpayers should be happy to have SYRIZA in Greece, says economist Yanis Varoufakis in an interview. Greece is not unwilling to reform.

ZEIT ONLINE: Mr. Varoufakis, the Greeks say they want to keep the euro but vote for SYRIZA and its leader Alexis Tsipras, whose plan could lead to an exit from the monetary union. How does that work?

Yanis Varoufakis: SYRIZA also wants Greece to remain in the eurozone. But, at the same time, it wants to renegotiate the austerity program, because it doesn't work. Just about everyone who knows anything about economics knows that by now.

Two weeks ago, the Greek government had to borrow $4.2 billion from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) rescue fund at an interest rate of about 4 percent. The government then handed back the equal sum to the European Central Bank to redeem maturing Greek government bonds. So, Greece borrows money from one EU body only to give it back to another EU body almost immediately. At the same time, austerity imposed on the country is driving it into bankruptcy. How is Greece supposed to ever pay back its debt?

SYRIZA wants to stop debt service.

Greece will eventually reach a point where, under the existing conditions, it can no longer remain a member of the eurozone. SYRIZA says: We can't go further if we want to keep the euro. We can't take your money on the terms that make it impossible for us to repay you. The party is acting responsibly when it clearly says that to Europe. I would have thought that the German taxpayers would appreciate that.

Even if Tsipras became prime minister, he would have to continue the austerity measures, because the Greek government is spending more than it takes in. Isn't he deceiving his voters?

Of course, there's no way around poverty and hardship. The Greeks know that, too. But to put it bluntly: hardship is one thing; an austerity policy based on the theory that the public debt can be reduced by lowering public spending and raising taxes at the same time is quite another thing. Greece, Portugal, and Spain have also shown that this course just doesn't work.

Many accuse the Greeks of doing too little. Are the reforms really just going slowly?

It is absurd to accuse the Greeks of being lazy or unwilling. Europe has completely failed to understand what is happening in Greece. The country isn't just in a simple recession. Even well-run enterprises are going bankrupt because the circulation of money has collapsed.

Credit is the lifeblood of the economy, but in Greece there is no credit, nor is there any trust. A friend of mine has owned a profitable business for decades. Its order book is full, and 95 percent of its products are exported. Nevertheless, the company is close to collapse because it can't get raw materials and intermediate goods any more. If a functioning company in Germany lost access to credit, it would go down, too.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/varoufakis110612.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. 'Radical' is a literal translation of the party name

The Coalition of the Radical Left (Greek: ?????????ό? ???????????ή? ???????ά?, Synaspismós Rhizospastikís Aristerás), abbreviated SYRIZA (Greek: ??????, pronounced [ˈsirizɐ], punning on ?ύ?????, sýrrhiza, meaning "to the roots&quot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_Radical_Left

[TBF]

12. That may be but that has nothing to do with the context

of the article: "while the anti-bailout radical left Syriza party" .

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. You think calling the party by the name it calls itself 'has nothing to do with the context'?

I just can't understand what you're saying. Is it that you expect a news report to denounce Syriza for calling themselves the 'radical left' when they're not radical enough for you?

[TBF]

21. I know you don't understand.

What I want or think is irrelevant, but the fact that the news media opines as to what is "radical" is important. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get your austerity, unfortunately in Greece (and probably here as well) you're going to get fascism along with it.

[socialist_n_TN]

23. You are correct TBF. Syriza is only radical in the context of.........

neoliberalism and in it's opposition to austerity as a way out of this particular ongoing crisis of capitalism.

A lot of people still buy the Reagan/Thatcher doctrine that "There IS no alternative.", so any alternative is radical. "Radical" is RW MSM framing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Well, I know I can have a coherent conversation with you

So, can you explain why using the term that Syriza uses for itself, ie "radical left", is, in your point of view, "RW MSM framing"?

[quakerboy]

26. And Pasok

is the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. But they still came down on the side of capitalist austerity.

In general names have little value when it comes to politics. With the exception of brand new movements, like the Pirate party, the parties have been coopted and are lead by interests often in opposition to their original founding principles, not just here in the US, but pretty well everywhere.

[Ken Burch]

15. Who knows what will happen anyway?

There's a good chance the police and the army will take this result as a mandate to brutally crush Greek workers, students and pensioners in the streets. Keeping the banks and Merkel happy makes THAT ok?

[iandhr]

3. Seems like the Greeks are screwed either way.

If New Democracy wins the Greek people will have to continue to sallow harsh austerity. If Syriza wins it looks like Greece will have to drop the Euro and use a worthless Drachma as their currency.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Yup

The proverbial Catch 22.

[Berlin Expat]

9. That pretty well

sums it up. Latest I'm reading, 20:57 CET, is that ND is ahead.

Of course, it ain't over til the fat lady sings, ie, 100% of precincts are reporting.

So, we shall see. Perhaps a more definitive picture will emerge by midnight CET.

[AndyTiedye]

4. They are Under a Lot of Pressure to "Deliver" the Election to the Conservatives

[davidwparker]

19. "deliver" is right.

Now, watch the violence continue.

[Ken Burch]

25. It looks like that delivery just barely happened

The final popular vote split will be about 29% for the ND's and 27% for SYRIZA.

About the only good thing that came of this is that the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party seems to have lost a few seats. However, they'll still have their day jobs at the Athens police department.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. One ballot box set alight

19.29 Skai reports that 10 hooded youths set fire to a ballot box at an Exarchia polling station. Not clear if vote there must take place again.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/ekathi/page1/elections2012

Also there:

18.33 Two hand grenades that had been thrown into the courtyard of the Skai television and Kathimerini media group were defused and will be taken to the police forensics laboratory to be examined, police said.
...
17.25 The police’s electronic crimes unit said it is seeking to identify the owner of a fake Twitter account supposedly belonging to Communist Party (KKE) that has been calling on KKE fans to vote for leftist Syriza. The police intervened after KKE lodged an official complaint and Communist Party leader made a public appeal for supporters to ignore the message and for authorities to probe the alleged sabotage.
...
16.51 Two brothers, believed to be supporters of the extreme-right Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) are in detention in Thessaloniki after reportedly attacking an electoral clerk. The brothers tried to enter a polling booth together, rather than by one as the law demands, prompting the reproval of the clerk who they allegedly attacked.

[magic59]

8. The major networks and news agencies

much of whom are owned by wall street and euro zone banksters, have been spreading their doom and gloom propaganda against the Syriza left. Much the same as US elections, big money owns the news and the power of persuasion is in the banksters hands. I hope the people vote for their best interests and boot the New Democracy party, AKA banksters, the he11 out.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. 18% of votes counted: projections: New Democracy 29.5% (128 seats), Syriza 27.1% (72)

and Pasok on 12.3% (33).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18478982

That would give a putative ND/Pasok coalition 161 seats - a majority in the 300 seat parliament.

I don't know if this link will survive the DU parsing process, but it's a Ministry of the Interior one:

http://ekloges.ypes.gr/v2012b/public/index.html?lang=en#{%22cls%22:%22main%22,%22params%22:{}}

[DCBob]

13. Looks like all the doom and gloom predictions were a bit off.

The pro-bailout coalition of ND + PASOK should have enough to form a majority.

We can now put the world financial collapse on hold.

[Ken Burch]

14. No...the doom and gloom anti-democracy media coverage is what succeeded

It's disgusting but not surprising that you'd cheer a result that can mean nothing but misery for the Greek people. Germany's demands for punitive austerity, for social punishment of the entire Greek population(when only the ND and the Greek rich were to blame for the shortfall)were and are unacceptable.

And ND is only in position to form a government tonight because of the anti-democratic "50 seat bonus" that the current Greek electoral system gives to the party that wins the popular vote plurality. Clearly, the overall vote of the Greek people tonight was against austerity.

No Democrat should ever want the right-wing party, especially a viciously pro-austerity party that is tied to the Greek upper classes that schemed with the military to stage a brutal fascist coup d'etat in 1967(go get a copy of "Z" if you want to see what that was like)to be in power.

Shame on you for backing the banks and the German right against the people of Europe and the world.

[DCBob]

16. Who said Im cheering the result??

Just ridiculing those idiots who have endlessly predicted worldwide doom and gloom regarding the situation in Greece.

[Ken Burch]

17. You made it sound as if a right-wing victory

was the only way to AVOID the doom and gloom.

Why can't doom and gloom be avoided without collective social punishment being administered to the people of Greece?

[DCBob]

18. I think the Greeks should exit the EURO at some point.

That may be their only hope. However, it needs to be done carefully so it doesnt cause ripple effects throughout the EU and the world and cause an even bigger crisis in Greece.

[TBF]

22. Well you're 1/2 right - it will be doom and gloom

but not for the banksters. As usual.