University of Piraeus- Department of International & European Studies.
G.V.Diamantis, Associate professor
gabriel.diamantis@gmail.com
2015- Premature, Early or Snap Parliamentary
Elections are to be held on 25th January
Greece Parliament fails for third time to elect a president forcing early
elections in the coming weeks. Left-wing is ahead.
1. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced plans for an early general
election next month after parliament rejected his candidate for president.
2. The anti-bailout party Syriza, leading in the opinion polls, vowed/promised
again to renegotiate the joint European Union-IMF bailout.
3. Former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas, the only candidate in the race,
will need 180 votes to be elected. In the previous round of voting, he secured
168 votes, 12 short of the supermajority required.
4. Recent polls have shown Syriza has kept its lead over the ruling centre-right
New Democracy party. An opinion poll on Saturday by the Alco institute
showed Syriza leading New Democracy- the Pro-Bailout Party- by 3.3 points, a
slightly narrower lead than in the previous poll. It put support for Syriza at 28.3
percent and for New Democracy at 25 percent.
5. Under the constitution, the legislature will now be dissolved and a date for
elections set within the next 10 days
6. The next thing to watch is how the campaigning and the polls will evolve over
the next few weeks.”
7. Now parliament will be dissolved and general elections called, raising concern that the
winner will be the anti-austerity party Syriza, which seeks to renegotiate the nation’s
debt.
8. Greece must strongly commit to Europe and back growth-friendly reforms if it is
to thrive/to grow well again within the euro area, European Economic Affairs
Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Monday as the country headed for an
early general election.
9. Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras on Monday hailed Parliament's failure to elect
a new head of state as a "historic day" in a brief address outside Parliament.
10. When the large majority of the Greek people is determined to put an end to the
policies of the memorandums and austerity, then deputies/authorities can do
nothing more than respond to their duty and act in accordance with the will of
the people," Tsipras said.
11. A poll by the same pollster published last week showed Syriza was leading New
Democracy by 3.5 percentage points. The poll was published hours after
lawmakers failed to elect a president on Monday, triggering the dissolution of
parliament and an election next month. The telephone survey of 1,017
households, conducted on Dec. 26-28 nationwide - before Monday's presidential
vote - showed that 58.6 percent of Greeks were against snap elections.
12. Syriza has been ahead of the government in opinion polls for months but its lead
has shrunk in recent days as the showdown in parliament neared.
13. Electoral Landscape- A Kapa Research poll on Dec. 27 gave Syriza 27.2
percent support compared to 24.7 percent for New Democracy, with Pasok
placing third on 6.1 percent and To Potami, a centrist party founded this year in
joint fourth place with the Communist Party of Greece on 5.8 percent.
Independent Greeks, an anti-bailout breakaway1 from New Democracy, which
refused to back Dimas for president, had 2.5 percent, less than the minimum 3
percent threshold /limit for getting into parliament.
14. Samaras, Greece’s fourth prime minister since its 2010 bailout from the euro
area and International Monetary Fund, will visit the president at midday to
formally ask for parliament’s dissolution and trigger/start the four-week
campaign before early elections.
15. Even in the event of a Syriza victory as polls suggest, Tsipras may not have the
freedom to fulfill pledges to annul2 the bailout agreement and renegotiate
repayment terms on loans.
16. “We could be looking at a very dangerous period of brinkmanship3,” said James
Ker-Lindsay, a senior research fellow at the London School of Economics, who
sees Tspiras trying to “test the limits.”
17. In 2010, with Greece crippled/damaged by debt and threatening the survival of
the euro, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the
European Central Bank began imposing German-inspired austerity on the
country. The aim was to slash/reduce the budget deficit and address fundamental
problems like corruption and a failure to collect taxes. Such policies, they
promised, would get Greece back on its feet, able to borrow again on financial
markets.
18. Former Prime Minister George Papandreou launches his new party the
Movement of Democrat Socialists, presenting himself as reformist against old
"corrupt" system. Furthermore, Papandreou’s new group will be a threat to
Tsipras if it manages to obtain at least 3 percent of the vote-the minimum needed
to enter to the Greek parliament.
19. About 60 percent of the Greek population believes that Grexit is a bluff4.
1
The loss of members from a political party (απομάκρυνση, απόσπαση)
2
to declare officially that is not valid
3
The practice of following a dangerous policy as far as is safely possible before stopping (
ακροσφαλής πολιτική )
4
A threat intended to influence somebody without being carried out.