Thread: Greece: Voters Punish at the Polls; Euro Exit Coming Up? Tell the Troika "Go to Hell"

Voters Punish New Democracy and Pasok; New Election, Euro Exit Coming Up? Best thing For Greece is Tell the Troika "Go to Hell"

Sunday, May 06, 2012 8:20 PM

Assuming no defects in Pasok or the New Democracy parties, the pro-austerity may just scrape together enough votes to barely piece together a ruling coalition.

How long the coalition lasts is another matter as Pasok was humiliated with a third place showing.

Reuters reports Angry Greeks reject bailout, risk euro exit

The latest official results, with over 61 percent of the vote counted, showed the only two major parties supporting an EU/IMF program that keeps Greece from bankruptcy would be hard pressed to form a lasting coalition.

New Democracy was polling just under 20 percent and PASOK a humiliating 13.6 percent with the Left Coalition on 16.2.

In the last election in 2009, PASOK won a landslide victory with 44 percent and the Left Coalition had just 5 percent.

Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras, at 37 Greece's youngest political leader, hailed a peaceful revolution and said German Chancellor Angela Merkel should understand that austerity policies had been defeated.

In another indication of the extent of public anger, the extreme right Golden Dawn party was poised to take nearly 7 percent of the vote. This would allow such a party to enter parliament for the first time since the fall of a military dictatorship in 1974.

Several analysts said the unprecedented fragmentation of the vote could bode weeks of instability and force another election. But a New Democracy source said the party would not ask for repeat elections if it finished up as the largest party. Samaras is likely to be invited to try to form a government on Monday.

Greece faces an acid test as soon as next month when it must give parliamentary approval for over 11 billion euros in extra spending cuts for 2013 and 2014 in exchange for more EU/IMF aid.

That looks like a tough task even if a new government can be formed in time, given the success of anti-bailout parties.

Under the constitution, Greek President Karolos Papoulias will give the biggest party after the election three days to form a government. If it fails, the next largest group gets a chance and so on down the line. If they all fail, new polls would be called about three weeks later.

Best thing For Greece is Tell the Troika "Go to Hell"

Short-term Greece is likely to face strong inflation, perhaps even hyperinflation if it returns to the Drachma. However, long-term Greece faces a 10 year or longer permanent recession with austerity upon austerity upon austerity if the eurozone stays intact and Greece stays in the eurozone.

Had Greece left the eurozone two years ago it would be far better off today, and the sooner it tells the Troika where to go, the sooner Greece has a chance to recover.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogsp...and-pasok.html

Extreme right leader lashes Greece's 'traitors'


Kostas TsironisA man waits to enter a voting booth at a polling station in Athens, Greece, Sunday May 6, 2012. Greeks casted ballots on Sunday in their most critical - and uncertain - election in decades, with voters set to punish the two main parties that are being held responsible for the country's dire economic straits. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

The leader of an extreme-right, anti-immigrant party on course for shock success in Greece's general elections Sunday lashed out at those he described as "traitors" responsible for the country's financial crisis and said his party was ushering in a "revolution."

The far-right Golden Dawn party is set to win 7 percent of the parliamentary vote, according to early projections, as Greeks punished the traditionally dominant parties who backed harsh austerity measures tied to debt-relief agreements.

Parties must exceed a 3-percent threshold of the vote to be represented in Greece's parliament. In the last general election in 2009, Golden Dawn received merely 0.29 percent. It has seen its support jump as a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment has spread in financially devastated Greece.

Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos told The Associated Press in an interview that his party had delivered a blow against the country's corrupt leadership.

"They slandered us, slung mud at us, and shut us out of all the news media _ the TV channels of the corrupt elite _ and we beat them," the 55-year-old leader said as the votes came in. "The day of national revolution by the Greeks has begun against those who are selling us out and looting the sweat of the Greek people."

Golden Dawn campaigned hard against illegal immigration, and its supporters have been blamed for a recent spike in inner-city street attacks against mostly Asian immigrants.

The party's supporters, routinely seen intimidating dark-skinned immigrants in run-down parts of the capital, wear black shirts, and its emblems resemble Nazi insignia. But Michaloliakos has rejected the neo-Nazi label widely used for his party, stressing that it is staunchly nationalist.

Referring to immigrants, Golden Dawn's campaign slogan in television ads was "let's rid this country of the stench."

Javad Aslan, a spokesman for Greece's Pakistani immigrant community, urged other political parties to work together to isolate Golden Dawn.

"This is dangerous for everyone who is living in Greece," Aslan said. "This (result) unbelievable for me. It is very serious, very dangerous. I can never believe a political party that comes with knives and bars against us, that hurts people and puts them in hospital."

Golden Dawn says Greece should reject its bailout commitments and write off its debt.

"No one should fear me if they are a good Greek citizen. If they are traitors _ I don't know," Michaloliakos said.

Flanked by two muscly aides, he later told a news conference: "Those who betray this country _ it's time for them to be afraid. We are coming."

He did not elaborate, but added: "We will fight to free Greece from the global loan sharks, for a Greece of dignity and independence, and for a Greece that is not a social jungle with all these millions of illegal immigrants that were brought here."



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