Greek Snap Elections Thread. Tsipras to announce a snap election

RobitTV

State broadcaster ERT is now reporting that Alexis Tsipras will announce a snap election tonight (20th August), after consulting his senior advisers.

Greek media reporting PM Alexis #Tsipras will give a TV address tonight, possibly announcing his resignation & elections in September. #Greece

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, in particular, told ERT that this time the election “will not be the same as those of 2012, because now there is agreement, and there is a framework for the recapitalization of banks."

An unnamed Greek official, when asked by journalists if Tsipras could announce snap elections in coming hours, said "everything is possible", Reuters reports.

On Friday, eurozone finance ministers agreed to a third bailout program for the crisis-stricken country. Athens will receive a total of €86 billion over three years.

The same day, the Greek parliament approved a draft law enacting a third bailout plan. Forty-three members of Tsipras’s Syriza party, including former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, voted against the bill or abstained. The party holds 149 seats in the parliament.

Skourletis said that Greek PM should move faster: "I would say elections first, then the party congress."

According to a Syriza lawmaker in the European Parliament, Dimitris Papadimoulis, the elections "whenever they are announced by the government, will provide a stable governing solution.”

“My feeling is that Syriza will have an absolute majority," he told Mega TV.

Well it appears my duties are now required once again. :pac::pac:

RobitTV

https://twitter.com/OpenEurope/status/634347516973199360

raymon

RobitTV wrote: »

https://twitter.com/OpenEurope/status/634347516973199360

This will be interesting - will he run on a pro austerity and pro bailout ticket ? Will Syriza be united behind him ?

RobitTV

raymon wrote: »

This will be interesting - will he run on a pro austerity and pro bailout ticket ? Will Syriza be united behind him ?

Indeed it will be very interesting to see what tricks Syriza will deliver this time. It's hard to say what kind of platform they will run on obviously the left of the party will be heavy Anti-Austerity but then since the party lied to the people after a waste of time national vote anything is possible.

Jolly Red Giant

By calling a snap election now Tsipras and the cohort around him have control over the candidates in the SYRIZA electionl list - and he will use that power to remove any potential rivals/rebels from the candidate list. If Tsipras waits until after the SYRIZA conference which is supposed to be held sometime next month he loses control over the selection of candidates and the candidates are nominated by the SYRIZA regional committees (many of which have an anti-troika majority).

RobitTV

Recent Polls from July:

According to the poll, if elections were to be held next Sunday, the ruling SYRIZA party would still be leading with 33.6% of the vote ahead of New Democracy that follows with 17.8%.

However, SYRIZA’s junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) would not be in the next parliament, according to the poll. The party would get just 2.8% of the vote, therefore falling short of the 3% mark, which is the minimum for entry in the Greek Parliament.

The Centrists’ Union, under long-time leader Vasilis Leventis, would sit in parliament for the first time with a 3.3% vote.

“To Potami” would be the third biggest party with 6.1% of the vote, followed by Golden Dawn with 5.3% and the Greek Communist Party (KKE) with 4.2%. According to the poll, PASOK, which was part of the last Greek government, would barely make the cut with 3.6% of the vote.

RobitTV

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Greece’s sovereign debt is falling in value, as investors face up to the prospect of elections next month.

This has pushed the yield on 10-year Greek bonds up to 11.6%, from 11.3% last night (a higher yield, or interest rate, means the debt is seen as riskier)

RobitTV

https://twitter.com/OmairaGill/status/634358239296102401
https://twitter.com/GreekAnalyst/status/634362281577549824

RobitTV

Greek Reporter @GreekReporter
Greece’s FinMin Tsakalotos Urges Greeks to Bring Their Money to the Banks.

:pac::pac::pac:

raymon

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

By calling a snap election now Tsipras and the cohort around him have control over the candidates in the SYRIZA electionl list - and he will use that power to remove any potential rivals/rebels from the candidate list. If Tsipras waits until after the SYRIZA conference which is supposed to be held sometime next month he loses control over the selection of candidates and the candidates are nominated by the SYRIZA regional committees (many of which have an anti-troika majority).

Jolly Red Giant - I find myself in a strange position . I actually agree totally with your whole post. I think you are completely correct
Do you think a spin off party is likely ?

RobitTV

https://twitter.com/daphnenews/status/634373231508615168

RobitTV

BREAKING:

Greek elections 'called for September 20'

Fasten your seatbelts. Mega TV are reporting that Alexis Tsipas has decided to call fresh elections in Greece in four weeks time, on Sunday 20 September.

A government official has just confirmed to Reuters that Tsipras will propose holding elections on September 20th

RobitTV

BREAKING:

There’s also a rumour that the rebellious left-wing of Tsipras’s party are preparing to break away and form their own group.

Daphne Papadopoulou @daphnenews
Left Platform (SYRIZA's radicals) are waiting for #Tsipras' announcemenents to announce new party - state TV

FreudianSlippers

Should be interesting, but Tsipras would have to be insane (or not care) to resign without being fairly sure he had enough back-room deals in to get re-elected.

gandalf

Well that is on script Syriza the poster child of the far left in this country starts to splinter because it had to make hard real world decisions. I hope voters take notice of this as it is exactly what will happen if they waste their votes on the Socialists and AAA candidates in the next election.

Quin_Dub

So..

The Hard left elements of Syriza have left and formed "Popular Unity" with 25 MP's

The Old Syriza is still the largest grouping by quite a margin and will likely be the same after the election..

The question is who will be next in line to forma coalition..

Currently it's New Democracy , but they still don't have a leader , could To Potami or Pasok take a leap forward?

Politically To-Potami are probably the "cleanest" of the options given that Pasok and ND still carry the stain of the last 20 years+... One wonders if Tsipras regets not going in with them in the first place in hindsight.

I can't see To-Potami getting the seats though to bridge the 30+ seats likely to be needed to give a majority with Syriza..

So, it'll probably be ND , but how long will that last?

Great article on Washington Post with the current Greek political spectrum
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/08/20/greece-just-called-new-elections-heres-the-background-you-need-to-understand-them/

Greek political developments may seem paradoxical or even completely irrational.

Tsipras should be able to (and I hope he does) move Syriza1.01 to the centre and garner enough votes in this Syriza1.01 party to stay extremely relevant, if not actually remain as PM.

From a european perspective, a coalition of the centre left and centre right parties would assist in economic stability, and perhaps social cohesion.

The polarisation of society won't stop though, with Golden Dawn and Popular Front still sweeping up the extremes.

A discrepancy between words and deeds defines Greek politics. Whether this discrepancy persists by the next government will define Greece’s future.

Jolly Red Giant

raymon wrote: »

Jolly Red Giant - I find myself in a strange position . I actually agree totally with your whole post. I think you are completely correct
Do you think a spin off party is likely ?

Your question has been answered - but this is not a surprise and has been in the works since Tsipras capitulated to the troika and was solidified last week by the 'Declaration of the 13' - a signed declaration of 13 left wing groups that included SYRIZA's Left Platform and others within SYRIZA but primarily left groups outside SYRIZA (including Xekinima - sister party of the Socialist Party).

One interesting point from the formation of Popular Unity is that because they are now the third largest parliamentary grouping under the Greek constitution they will have three days to try and form a government - that won't happen but PU intend to use the three day period to open up a national debate on the pact of the troika deal and the necessity for rupture with the troika.

Jolly Red Giant

Deleted User wrote: »

Great article on Washington Post with the current Greek political spectrum
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/08/20/greece-just-called-new-elections-heres-the-background-you-need-to-understand-them/



Tsipras should be able to (and I hope he does) move Syriza1.01 to the centre and garner enough votes in this Syriza1.01 party to stay extremely relevant, if not actually remain as PM.

From a european perspective, a coalition of the centre left and centre right parties would assist in economic stability, and perhaps social cohesion.

The polarisation of society won't stop though, with Golden Dawn and Popular Front still sweeping up the extremes.

It is utterly delusional to think that any government implementing €13billion of austerity cuts will be even remotely stable.