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Greek leftists Syriza make historic strides in local election

2014-05-19 12,447 Dailymotion

Greece’s main opposition party Syriza is celebrating after recording a historic first in local elections.<br /><br />The radical anti-austerity group fared strongly, making it into the second round of the contest for Athens and the surrounding region, for the first time ever.<br /><br />Its supporters believe the result is a taste of things to come in this week’s European Parliament vote.<br /><br />“Syriza is our hope, our only hope if we are to take back what was taken away from us,” said one woman at a party rally. <br /><br />Sentiments shared by another supporter: “Syriza is the new thing, our own thing. It’s a movement where we are the protagonists and not the supporting cast.” <br /><br />Critics say Syriza’s strategy of casting the local and EU elections as a referendum on the ruling coalition’s austerity policies is paying dividends.<br /><br />Dimitris Tsiodras is a political analyst for Skai TV and Katherimini newspaper: “Ever since the center-right and the socialists formed their ruling coalition, SYRIZA has became the principal critic of their policies. But besides from being just a voice of protest, it is trying to lay out a convincing policy platform as to persuade the voters that it can also govern the country.”<br /><br />Our correspondent in Athens says even though the two ruling coalition parties fared well in the remaining 12 regions, Syriza’s showing is very significant.<br /><br />“For the first time in Greek politics, a party to the left of the socialists appears close to winning in the European parliament and possibly even the national elections.” says Stamatis Giannis.<br /><br />“To achieve that however, it will have to overcome its internal differences as well as gain additional support from otherwise traditional voters of neighbouring political forces, both from the center-left and from the communists.”

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