ATHENS: After winning general elections, Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras is going to form government that can take on international lenders and reverse years of painful austerity.
Fresh from his defeat of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the 40-year-old Tsipras will meet the head of the small Independent Greeks party which, like Syriza, opposes Greece’s bailout deal.
Syriza won 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament in Sunday’s election, two short of an absolute majority, but the result marked a comprehensive rejection of the years of austerity demanded by the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for the €240-billion bailout.
“Greece leaves behind catastrophic austerity, it leaves behind fear and authoritarianism, it leaves behind five years of humiliation and suffering,” Tsipras told thousands of cheering supporters gathered in Athens on Sunday.
Syriza’s campaign slogan “Hope is coming!” resonated with voters worn down by huge budget cuts and heavy tax rises during the years of crisis that have sent unemployment over 25% and pushed millions into poverty.
Tsipras aims to move swiftly to create the first euro zone government elected to undo the orthodox conservative polices of strict budgetary rigour that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has championed for the bloc’s most troubled economies.
He expects to be sworn in as prime minister on Monday and have a government in place by Wednesday morning at the latest, according to a Syriza official.
For the first time in more than 40 years, neither the New Democracy party of Samaras nor the centre-left PASOK, the two forces that had dominated Greek politics since the fall of a military junta in 1974, will be in power.
Tsipras is due to meet Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos at 10.30am and also expects to talk to the heads of two other parties, the centrist To Potami and the communist KKE, a sign he may look for their support even if they do not join a formal coalition.
