The leader of the Greek conservatives Antonis Samaras, whose New Democracy party came top in last Sunday’s general election, winning just below 19 per cent of the vote, failed to form a new government on Monday.
Although the social-democrats leader Vangelis Venizelos offered his support to a ‘national coalition government’, no other party accepted Samaras’ invitation.
It is now the turn of the leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Alexis Tsipras, which came second in the polls receiving 16.8 per cent, to try and a form a government.
SYRIZA stood in the election as a pro-EC, pro-Euro party but against the EC-IMF imposed Accord of barbaric austerity measures.
The stated aim of SYRIZA and its leader Alexis Tsipras is ‘renegotiations’ with the EC-IMF overlords.
Tsipras has declared his wish for a coalition ‘left government’ which will include the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the Democratic Left party.
But the total parliamentary deputies elected for all these three parties add up to just 97, well below the 151 needed in the 300 seats Vouli (Greek parliament).
The president of the Greek Industrialists’ Association (SEB), Dimitris Daskalopoulos, called for the formation of a ‘grand coalition government which must include SYRIZA the real winner of these elections.’
This, according to Daskalopoulos, would be ‘a chance to formulate a national negotiating front that could extract from a changing Europe new conditions regarding Greece on the basis of a national development plan to exit from the crisis’.
Daskalopoulos doubts if such a government can be formed now and he called for another general election next month.
Daskalopoulos damned the main bourgeois parties, the conservatives and the social-democrats, as impotent and corrupt.
It is clear that the bosses in Greece, under the circumstances, accept Tsipra’s ‘left government’ as the most reliable way to keep bankrupt Greek capitalism afloat and stop the masses of workers and youth from totally rejecting capitalism and turning to revolution.
Tsipras has until tomorrow to try and form a government.
If he fails, then it will be the turn of the PASOK leader Venizelos. If he fails too, then a new general election would be declared for June.
