SYRIZA swept to power yesterday in the Greek elections winning 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority.
After the final results came in Syriza’s leader announced that they were forming an anti-austerity coalition with a new party, the Greek Independents who won 13 seats.
The outgoing New Democracy party came a distant second with 76 seats, a loss of 53 seats since the previous parliament.
The Communist party won 15 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
There were mass celebrations all through Sunday night as the results began to come through.
Fearing the election result would lead to Greece defaulting on its debt the stock markets fell early on Monday morning with the euro plunging to an 11-year low against the dollar, while the Athens stock market fell more than 5% before recovering somewhat by mid-morning.
A statement by the Revolutionary Marxist League, our Greek section, said: ‘The Greek working class and youth have delivered at yesterday’s general election, a death blow to the hated barbaric Austerity Accords imposed by the troika of EC-IMF-ECB and carried out by the savage violence of the regime of the conservatives-social democrats coalition government.
‘Greek workers voted for the Coalition of the Left Party (SYRIZA) demanding the immediate end of all austerity measures, the kicking out of the troika and the restoration of wages, pensions, collective labour agreements and the end to the destruction of health, education and social services.
‘The Revolutionary Marxist League (RML) welcomes the election of SYRIZA as an historic victory for the revolutionary resistance struggles of Greek workers and youth against the EC-IMF-ECB’s Austerity Accords.
‘This victory will have tremendous impact on Europe and the whole world.
‘The RML condemns the decision of the SYRIZA to form a coalition government with the right-wing Independent Greek party.
‘We call on all workers and youth, small farmers and professionals, to immediately build Popular Assemblies (Councils of Action) in every area and mobilise the trade unions against the EC-IMF diktats and demand:
• Out of EU and NATO. Kick out the troika.
• Write off all Greece’s public debt.
• Nationalise all banks and big business under workers’ control.
• Restore wages, pensions and public services.
• Reinstate all sacked workers.
• Reopen ERT as the state TV and radio corporation.
• Disband riot police.
‘Now it’s the time to build a mass revolutionary party of the 4th International and go forward and overthrow capitalism and establish a socialist government of workers’ and small farmers.’