Greek parliamentary election, 7 July 2019

[Lord Halifax]

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1132756628795793408

EDIT: It's taking place on the 7th of July.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Our long national nightmare is over.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

These are the EU results, fwiw:

New Democracy: 33.18
Syriza: 23.8
Kinima (PASOK 2.0): 7.69
Communists: 5.41
Golden Dawn: 4.85
Greek Solution: 4.13
MERA25: 3.01

There's also a full 17% vote for "other", including old friends like LAOS, Speaker Zoe's party, Potami, Union of the Centrists, ANTARSYA, the Ecologist Greens, the plain old Greens, the SYRIZA BETRAYED US split Popular Unity (on a pretty miserable score of 0.57%), that Communist Party that hates Russia and that BRTD loves and, yes, Dimosthenis Vergis's insane sex cult disguised as another Ecologist Party was running as well.

Anyway, we're all familiar with Greek parties, so the only new face is "Greek Solution" which is yet another populist right bunch to fill in the gap left by LAOS and current useless supplicant/Greek military shill party ANEL. The Greek Right were of course very INFURIATED by Tsipras's actions in ending the dumb Macedonia issue, so its leader made lots of hay out of that.

Other than that, looks like an ND win. Tsipras may be making glossy interviews with the Financial Times where he talks about serious grown up stuff like "structural reforms" and "fiscal responsibility" these days, but many consider that his shambolic first year of government and the ensuing backflip made the country look a little silly. Even "officially" leaving the bailout memorando hasn't meant much, as Greece is still heavily monitored and controlled by its creditors. Also Tsipras deciding to go on a yachting holiday with a shipping magnate days after some dealy fires didn't really boost his approval ratings.

For ND's part, their leader (thankfully) is someone from the liberal wing not another Samaras headbanger; although that may change in power. They just took 11 out of 13 of Greece's regions, so they'd have to screw up pretty badly to lose at this stage.

[jaichind]

I thought the EU election results are mostly inline with polling over the last few months.  So these results are not a surprise.  I assume Tsipras is calling elections early since these results confirms those polls that put ND well ahead ?

[Velasco]

I think Greek Solution is a great name for a party (just wondering why voters don't give a massive support to someone offering a solution), but I want the Panhellenic Socialist Movement back again.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

These are the EU results, fwiw:

New Democracy: 33.18
Syriza: 23.8
Kinima (PASOK 2.0): 7.69
Communists: 5.41
Golden Dawn: 4.85
Greek Solution: 4.13
MERA25: 3.01

Worth noting that the count has been stuck at 89.6% reporting all day, so there's a strong chance MERA25 won't make it.

[GlobeSoc]

y tho

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

These are the EU results, fwiw:

New Democracy: 33.18
Syriza: 23.8
Kinima (PASOK 2.0): 7.69
Communists: 5.41
Golden Dawn: 4.85
Greek Solution: 4.13
MERA25: 3.01

Worth noting that the count has been stuck at 89.6% reporting all day, so there's a strong chance MERA25 won't make it.

lol good shout: mera25 has 2.9909% of the vote atm.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I thought the EU election results are mostly inline with polling over the last few months.  So these results are not a surprise.  I assume Tsipras is calling elections early since these results confirms those polls that put ND well ahead ?

He wanted to do the election in October but after such a crushing defeat he had no choice. He would be worse than a lame duck.

I think Greek Solution is a great name for a party (just wondering why voters don't give a massive support to someone offering a solution), but I want the Panhellenic Socialist Movement back again.

Greek Solution is a far-right party, founded and led by a pro-Putin, anti-EU, crackpot who is famous for selling "authentic handwritten letters by Jesus" and miracle ointments that cure every disease. It's performance is a total surprise and an embarrassment for our country and our political system.

[Velasco]

I thought the EU election results are mostly inline with polling over the last few months.  So these results are not a surprise.  I assume Tsipras is calling elections early since these results confirms those polls that put ND well ahead ?

He wanted to do the election in October but after such a crushing defeat he had no choice. He would be worse than a lame duck.

I think Greek Solution is a great name for a party (just wondering why voters don't give a massive support to someone offering a solution), but I want the Panhellenic Socialist Movement back again.

Greek Solution is a far-right party, founded and led by a pro-Putin, anti-EU, crackpot who is famous for selling "authentic handwritten letters by Jeus" and miracle ointments that cure every disease. It's performance is a total surprise and an embarrassment for our country and our political system.

Do you mean "Jesus"? Actually I was kidding, but I understand your embarrassment and don't pretend to make fun of it. Every country has its own lunatics. I read in the wikipedia entry that party leader is a former LAOS member, which I guess is consistent with Russophillia and religious delusion

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Potami's leader resigns; the party will not participate in the snap election.

[Velasco]

I have a map of the January 2015 election

[Landslide Lyndon]

I have a map of the January 2015 election

SYRIZA has now been obliterated from the countryside.
ND carried two prefectures of Crete (a progressive stronghold) which hadn't happened for at least 40 years.
In total, SYRIZA only carried 6 out of 60 electoral districts.

[danny]

Greek Solution is a far-right party, founded and led by a pro-Putin, anti-EU, crackpot who is famous for selling "authentic handwritten letters by Jesus" and miracle ointments that cure every disease. It's performance is a total surprise and an embarrassment for our country and our political system.

On the bright side it looks like they got their votes from Golden Dawn, so that's still an improvement.

[Walmart_shopper]

I have a map of the January 2015 election

What are those little dots of NDP blue just east of Athens?

Also, why is Piraeus so left wing while Athens is not?

[Landslide Lyndon]

1) These are the northern suburbs of Athens. Very affluent and very right-wing.

2) Piraeus proper isn't left wing at all. But its suburbs (where I live) are almost exclusively working-class. Traditionally they were a communist stronghold.

[Walmart_shopper]

1) These are the northern suburbs of Athens. Very affluent and very right-wing.

2) Piraeus proper isn't left wing at all. But its suburbs (where I live) are almost exclusively working-class. Traditionally they were a communist stronghold.

And Thessaloniki? Why is more firmly left wing than Athens? Is it more working class?

[Landslide Lyndon]

1) These are the northern suburbs of Athens. Very affluent and very right-wing.

2) Piraeus proper isn't left wing at all. But its suburbs (where I live) are almost exclusively working-class. Traditionally they were a communist stronghold.

And Thessaloniki? Why is more firmly left wing than Athens? Is it more working class?

Locally they are very right-wing. Nationally, they are more swingy.
SYRIZA fared poorly in Macedonia due to the Prespes agreement.

[Bacon King]

I love Greek politics so as usual I'm maintaining a thread for this election over on AAD if anyone's interested but I didn't consider until now that there will be a thread here (I was under a one-month ban for the duration of the last Greek election lol) so I'll be contributing here as well

just a note though, it's actually being held on July 7th, the original June 30th date was only speculation

[Landslide Lyndon]

just a note though, it's actually being held on July 7th, the original June 30th date was only speculation

It wasn't speculation, it was actually announced by the Press secretary.
But they changed it one day later, supposedly because school exams for university admission won't be over by then.
In reality Tsipras delayed the election to have the chance to appoint the leadership of our supreme court whose current term expires on June 30.

[Walmart_shopper]

Two questions:

One, Syriza spent a lot of the last few years clashing with the Greek Orthodox church on various issues. How close is ND and its electoral base to the church?

Two, is it possible for Tsipras to cobble together a leftist coalition with Kinema and the Communists even if ND is the top party, or does the electoral system pretty much ensure that whomever gets 35 percent of the vote is going to get a majority? Are the Commies even politically viable for a coalition?

[Oryxslayer]

Two questions:

One, Syriza spent a lot of the last few years clashing with the Greek Orthodox church on various issues. How close is ND and its electoral base to the church?

Two, is it possible for Tsipras to cobble together a leftist coalition with Kinema and the Communists even if ND is the top party, or does the electoral system pretty much ensure that whomever gets 35 percent of the vote is going to get a majority? Are the Commies even politically viable for a coalition?

On sixth of the chamber - 50 seats out of 300, are awarded to to plurality leader. So, whoever comes in first will always be forming the government.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Two questions:

One, Syriza spent a lot of the last few years clashing with the Greek Orthodox church on various issues. How close is ND and its electoral base to the church?

Two, is it possible for Tsipras to cobble together a leftist coalition with Kinema and the Communists even if ND is the top party, or does the electoral system pretty much ensure that whomever gets 35 percent of the vote is going to get a majority? Are the Commies even politically viable for a coalition?

ND is very close to the church. As a matter of fact too close for what is ostensibly a western secular party.
SYRIZA passed some legislation which was opposed by the church but they never seriously challenged her. When the education minister tried to take the teaching of Bible out of school curriculum, the Archbishop of Athens demanded publicly his dismissal and Tsipras promptly acquiesced.

On sixth of the chamber - 50 seats out of 300, are awarded to to plurality leader. So, whoever comes in first will always be forming the government.

   

Not only that, there is no chance in hell for KKE to support any kind of coalition government. This is a hard stalinist party which believes that everyone else is a puppet of big business, EU, and NATO.

[Walmart_shopper]

Two questions:

One, Syriza spent a lot of the last few years clashing with the Greek Orthodox church on various issues. How close is ND and its electoral base to the church?

Two, is it possible for Tsipras to cobble together a leftist coalition with Kinema and the Communists even if ND is the top party, or does the electoral system pretty much ensure that whomever gets 35 percent of the vote is going to get a majority? Are the Commies even politically viable for a coalition?

ND is very close to the church. As a matter of fact too close for what is ostensibly a western secular party.
SYRIZA passed some legislation which was opposed by the church but they never seriously challenged her. When the education minister tried to take the teaching of Bible out of school curriculum, the Archbishop of Athens demanded publicly his dismissal and Tsipras promptly acquiesced.

On sixth of the chamber - 50 seats out of 300, are awarded to to plurality leader. So, whoever comes in first will always be forming the government.

   

Not only that, there is no chance in hell for KKE to support any kind of coalition government. This is a hard stalinist party which believes that everyone else is a puppet of big business, EU, and NATO.

Are ND voters generally quite religious?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Athens:
Costas Bakoyiannis (ND)      65.25%
Nassos Iliopoulos (SYRIZA)  34.75%

Thessaloniki:
Constantinos Zervas (Independent)  66.79%
Nikos Tahiaos (ND)              33.21%

Patras:
Costas Peletidis (KKE)           70.91%
Gregoris Alexopoulos (Independent)  29.09%

Piraeus
Yiannis Moralis (KINAL)  57.81%
Nikos Vlahakos (ND)      42.19%

Zervas in Thessaloniki is an ND dissident

This promises to be a good year for the powerful Mitsotakis family(who themselves are part of the Venizelos clan). Not only is Konstantinos Mitsotakis's son Kyriakos leading ND and almost certain to be PM, the incoming Athens Mayor is the daughter of former Athens Mayor and daughter of Konstantinos Dora Bakoyannis (you may remember her from leading a liberal split from ND in the bailout day).

Terrible results for Syriza obviously, especially in the regions (where they weren't that powerful to begin with), having their incumbent blown out in Greece's most populated region of Attica. She had pretty good PR in the international press when she was elected - I remember a few nice write-ups in the liberal press, but in practice she sunk without a trace and, like Tsipras, did not respond well to the wildfire situation. The sole region not won by ND is leftist stronghold Crete where Stavros Arnaoutakis, an independent supported by Syriza and Kinal, was re-elected.