Independent Greeks

Left-wing SYRIZA party has won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday's early elections which will give former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras the opportunity to renew his alliance with Independent Greeks and form a coalition government, ekathimerini.com reported.

With 70% of the votes counted, SYRIZA had 35.43%, which would translate into 144 seats in Parliament.

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras won Sunday’s elections and is to be sworn in as the country’s prime minister on Monday evening (8 p.m.). A euphoric Tsipras told journalists – from his party’s headquarters – that the electoral result sent a message to Europe that Greeks were interested in a stable government that would complete its four-year term.

If initial projections prove true then leftist SYRIZA will have approximately 132 MPs in Greece’s 300-MP Parliament, with conservative New Democracy fielding 79.

Nine parties will enter Parliament if the figures hold up, something that means the front-runner will need two coalition partners, instead of one party, as was the case in January 2015

An opinion poll commissioned by Proto Thema, Greece’s best-selling newspaper, shows a razor-thin lead for leftist SYRIZA over conservative New Democracy and eight (!) political parties entering Parliament.

As with previous opinion polls released over the past week, a “derby” appears in hand for the snap Sept. 20 election.

The latest opinion poll published this week gives previously ruling SYRIZA the support of 26 percent of respondents to 25 percent for rival New Democracy party, signaling a prospective “derby” for first-place.

The opinion poll was conducted by the Pulse firm and commissioned by the Athens television station Action24.

Voters that are undecided on who they prefer in next month’s snap Greek general election comprise the majority of respondents in a recent opinion poll, published by the Athens daily “Efimerida ton Syntakton” (journalists’ gazette) on Friday.

Political developments in Greece revolved squarely around the prospect of snap elections next month, whereas most of the planet on Monday was shocked by the same-day crash on global markets, while Europe focused on the thousands of Third World migrants trying to make it to the continent’s north.

Political “fireworks” in Greece appear to be ebbing in the wake of an agreement with creditors and subsequent votes in Parliament to ratify the deal and pass “prior actions”, while the peaking Grecian summer season means less interest in politics — thankfully — and more for beach, sun, islands and excursions to mainland villages.

Friday political highlights include:

Other political leaders’ statements from Parliament in the early morning (!) hours of Thursday on on the second package of prior actions envisioned in a memorandum for a third Greek bailout:

Potami party leader Stavros Theodorakis:

“Government’s handling of economic crisis brought the country to a worse state than previous situation”

In front of thousands of vibrant supporters and with the world tuned in, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras on Friday again urged for a “no” vote in a referendum he called exactly one week ago on creditors’ last proposal — a poll that has nevertheless been portrayed by European leadership and Tsipras’ political opponents as a plebiscite on Greece’s very position in a united Europe.