Greeks streamed to the polls on Sunday in a pivotal election that was expected to usher in the first anti-austerity government in Europe, reflecting years of economic hardship, raising questions about Greece's place in the continent's currency union and leaving financial markets on edge.
The left-wing Syriza party, led by a young firebrand, Alexis Tsipras, reached election day with small but consistent leads over the governing centre-right New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in pre-election opinion polls as people stood in lines to vote across the nation.
"Democracy will return to Greece," Tsipras, 40, said as he cast his ballot at an Athens voting centre, surrounded by a phalanx of cameras. "The message is that our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity."
After years of belt-tightening imposed by Greece's creditors, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Tsipras has surged to popularity with pledges to repudiate many of the conditions attached to a bailout worth 240 billion euro, or about $270 billion, that many Greeks blame for worsening their lives and deepening an already devastating five-year recession.
Tsipras has also demanded that creditors write down at least half of Greece's public debt of 319 billion euro, or about $357 billion, to give the country more breathing room for spending stimulus that he says is needed to jump-start the economy and reduce Greece's 25 per cent unemployment rate.
Such talk has lifted leftist and populist parties elsewhere in Europe, especially in Spain, where the left-leaning anti-austerity Podemos party, which is less than a year old, has already reached 20 per cent in opinion polls there. The leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, joined Tsipras this week during Syriza's campaign rally. Both have burst into the limelight with pledges to face down austerity and their nation's creditors.
Those same pledges, however, have spooked financial markets and other European governments, renewing doubts about Greece's ability to exit a financial crisis that has weighed down the country as well as its neighbors, many of which have given Greece loans to help it get back on its feet. Merkel and others have said they see Tsipras's demands as unrealistic and rife with the potential to drive Greece toward the brink of a default or worse.
Similar concerns were on the minds of average Greeks, many of whom were still undecided Sunday morning on whom to choose. Even those who thought Tsipras would win power, either alone or in a coalition with one or more other opposition parties, worried about what he would do when he got it.
In the wealthy Athens suburb of Psychiko, Betty Kaleki, 45, and Polly Katsouli, 46, stood outside a crowded school trying to figure out which candidate they would pick. Both were leaning toward an upstart leftist party, Potami, or the River, started up less than a year ago by a former television journalist.
"I'm not happy, I'm afraid," Kaleki said. "If Syriza comes to power, I don't know what will happen tomorrow."
Katsouli said she did not think a catastrophe would come. "I just heard Tsipras on the radio this morning - he is already speaking like he's the prime minister," she said.
She added that her biggest fear was about the coterie of academic economic advisers with whom he has surrounded himself, many of whom are split on how to take the economy forward and deal with Greece's creditors.
She was concerned that some of his advisors on the far left are too radical and unpredictable, said Katsouli, who was split on whether to vote for Potami or for Samaras, whom many Greeks blame for imposing austerity. The closer she got to the voting booth, the more she edged toward Potami.
Samaras, who oversaw the efforts to carry out an austerity program demanded by Greece's so-called Troika of lenders - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - has warned that a Syriza-led government could wind up driving Greece outside the eurozone. While few people think that will really happen, Samaras used a photo opportunity as he cast his ballot Sunday morning to drive home the point. "Today we decide if we move ahead with power, safety and confidence or if we head into an adventure," Samaras said. "I am optimistic because I believe no one will risk the European course of our country."
Some people were not convinced. Wearing a blue suit, a tall silver-haired man who would give only his first name, Vassilis, said he felt angry at the current government and the two main parties, New Democracy and Pasok, which had led Greece for nearly 40 years.
"I'm 80, and I've lived through the German occupation," he said as he stood in a line to vote. The governing parties "are traitors and should be ousted," he said.
Vassilis said he used to vote for New Democracy but now planned to vote for the Independent Greeks, a fringe party, saying he did not agree with all of Tsipras's positions. The austerity programme overseen by Samaras, including a reduction in Vassilis's pension and new housing taxes, had driven him into dire financial straits, he said. "I need to work just for a plate of food."
Christina Polychronidou, 39, came to the same place with her husband and young daughter to vote. She would not reveal her choice, but, she added, it would not matter much anyway. "Nothing will change," she said. "Tsipras will stay on the same course that Samaras did. If you have Merkel against you it's very tough to change."
Still, Tsipras has strong support. Zoe Makrigianni, 19, an Athens resident, voted for Syriza and blamed scaremongering for the attacks against Mr. Tsipras. "People hear that Tsipras is scary or that he will not make a difference," she said, adding, "I think he will prove them wrong."
The left-wing Syriza party, led by a young firebrand, Alexis Tsipras, reached election day with small but consistent leads over the governing centre-right New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in pre-election opinion polls as people stood in lines to vote across the nation.
"Democracy will return to Greece," Tsipras, 40, said as he cast his ballot at an Athens voting centre, surrounded by a phalanx of cameras. "The message is that our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity."
After years of belt-tightening imposed by Greece's creditors, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Tsipras has surged to popularity with pledges to repudiate many of the conditions attached to a bailout worth 240 billion euro, or about $270 billion, that many Greeks blame for worsening their lives and deepening an already devastating five-year recession.
Tsipras has also demanded that creditors write down at least half of Greece's public debt of 319 billion euro, or about $357 billion, to give the country more breathing room for spending stimulus that he says is needed to jump-start the economy and reduce Greece's 25 per cent unemployment rate.
Such talk has lifted leftist and populist parties elsewhere in Europe, especially in Spain, where the left-leaning anti-austerity Podemos party, which is less than a year old, has already reached 20 per cent in opinion polls there. The leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, joined Tsipras this week during Syriza's campaign rally. Both have burst into the limelight with pledges to face down austerity and their nation's creditors.
Those same pledges, however, have spooked financial markets and other European governments, renewing doubts about Greece's ability to exit a financial crisis that has weighed down the country as well as its neighbors, many of which have given Greece loans to help it get back on its feet. Merkel and others have said they see Tsipras's demands as unrealistic and rife with the potential to drive Greece toward the brink of a default or worse.
Similar concerns were on the minds of average Greeks, many of whom were still undecided Sunday morning on whom to choose. Even those who thought Tsipras would win power, either alone or in a coalition with one or more other opposition parties, worried about what he would do when he got it.
In the wealthy Athens suburb of Psychiko, Betty Kaleki, 45, and Polly Katsouli, 46, stood outside a crowded school trying to figure out which candidate they would pick. Both were leaning toward an upstart leftist party, Potami, or the River, started up less than a year ago by a former television journalist.
"I'm not happy, I'm afraid," Kaleki said. "If Syriza comes to power, I don't know what will happen tomorrow."
Katsouli said she did not think a catastrophe would come. "I just heard Tsipras on the radio this morning - he is already speaking like he's the prime minister," she said.
She added that her biggest fear was about the coterie of academic economic advisers with whom he has surrounded himself, many of whom are split on how to take the economy forward and deal with Greece's creditors.
She was concerned that some of his advisors on the far left are too radical and unpredictable, said Katsouli, who was split on whether to vote for Potami or for Samaras, whom many Greeks blame for imposing austerity. The closer she got to the voting booth, the more she edged toward Potami.
Samaras, who oversaw the efforts to carry out an austerity program demanded by Greece's so-called Troika of lenders - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - has warned that a Syriza-led government could wind up driving Greece outside the eurozone. While few people think that will really happen, Samaras used a photo opportunity as he cast his ballot Sunday morning to drive home the point. "Today we decide if we move ahead with power, safety and confidence or if we head into an adventure," Samaras said. "I am optimistic because I believe no one will risk the European course of our country."
Some people were not convinced. Wearing a blue suit, a tall silver-haired man who would give only his first name, Vassilis, said he felt angry at the current government and the two main parties, New Democracy and Pasok, which had led Greece for nearly 40 years.
"I'm 80, and I've lived through the German occupation," he said as he stood in a line to vote. The governing parties "are traitors and should be ousted," he said.
Vassilis said he used to vote for New Democracy but now planned to vote for the Independent Greeks, a fringe party, saying he did not agree with all of Tsipras's positions. The austerity programme overseen by Samaras, including a reduction in Vassilis's pension and new housing taxes, had driven him into dire financial straits, he said. "I need to work just for a plate of food."
Christina Polychronidou, 39, came to the same place with her husband and young daughter to vote. She would not reveal her choice, but, she added, it would not matter much anyway. "Nothing will change," she said. "Tsipras will stay on the same course that Samaras did. If you have Merkel against you it's very tough to change."
Still, Tsipras has strong support. Zoe Makrigianni, 19, an Athens resident, voted for Syriza and blamed scaremongering for the attacks against Mr. Tsipras. "People hear that Tsipras is scary or that he will not make a difference," she said, adding, "I think he will prove them wrong."
©2015 The New York Times News Service