Wall Street Journal
February 14, 2012
Leftist and progressive parties across the euro-zone have seen their popularity plummet with the rise of fiscal conservatism as the new orthodoxy over the last couple of years.
In Greece the socialist Pasok party has suffered repeated blows. Its leader, George Papandreou, is on his way out after also resigning the premiership. His call for a referendum in November opened the door for a technocrat prime minister, Lucas Papademos and for an internal party struggle for the new chief. Pasok, which has ruled Greece for much of its recent history, now polls at 8%.
The conservative New Democracy party is polling at 31%, still too low to independently get a majority of seats in parliament in the upcoming April elections. Its leader, Antonis Samaras, is widely considered to be set to become the next prime minister.
Both these establishment parties, are perceived as pro-bailout. Mr Samaras has attempted to change this perception by explaining that he wants to renegotiate the terms attached to the fresh rescue funds for Greece. Despite this, Pasok and New Democracy expelled a total of 43 deputies who voted against the the new measures on Sunday.
The 43 are added to 18 independent lawmakers, making the “unaffiliated” members of the Greek parliament the third largest constituency in the house. As things stand now, no single parliamentary party has a majority.
At the same time, the Greek left has seen its stock go up.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment