Anti-Austerity Party Wins Greek Parliamentary Elections
January 26, 2015
Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the Greek party Syriza, today formed a coalition government and was sworn in as prime minister. Tsipras has vowed to renegotiate the amount of the nation’s debt and to put an end to austerity measures—tax increases and limits on government spending—that were imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. These austerity measures were placed on the Greek government in return for bailout money from the European Union—240 billion euros ($244 billion).
Alex Tsipras, leader of the anti-austerity party Syriza, speaks to supporters after the parliamentary elections in Greece on Jan. 25, 2015. Credit: AP Photo
In yesterday’s parliamentary elections, Syriza won at least 149 of 300 seats, nearly an outright majority. The left-wing party then formed a coalition government with the right-wing Independent Greeks party to take a majority in parliament.
EU austerity measures have led to a more balanced budget of government spending to revenue for Greece, but at the cost of a contracting economy. The Greek economy has been in recession for the last five years, its unemployment rate has soared to nearly 30 percent, and wages in Greece have fallen sharply. This has left Greece in conundrum. After five years of austerity, its debt has actually increased when considered as a ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP—the amount of goods and services in a nation’s economy in a given year). In 2010, the Greek debt was 130 percent of its GDP. It is now close to 170 percent.
After five years of economic pain, Greece is less able to pay its creditors than it was in 2010. Greek voters are hoping Tsipras can lead their nation to better times.
