Syriza must win!
Once again, Greeks are being confronted with another all-or-nothing election. The issues at stake are stability, the country's membership in the eurozone, the refugees who land on Greek shores every night and the ensuing chaos.
All three elections during these fateful 12 months were called by the left-wing Syriza party, led by the charismatic Alexis Tsipras. In January, snap elections took place because Syriza blocked the election of a new president in parliament. In July, Prime Minister Tsipras asked people to go to the polls over an unsigned agreement with international creditors.
And now, elections have been called again after parliament approved the agreement - that was ultimately concluded - with heavy reliance on the opposition's support. The ultra-left-wing faction of the party rejected the agreement, split from Syriza and is now trying to win the favor of the electorate by presenting themselves as the "united people." Tsipras can no longer rule with the remains of his party.
Syriza should actually be punished
In light of the ongoing trivialization of democracy in Greece, people tend to wish that Syriza will be punished in the elections on Sunday. In the end, Tsipras' government alone is to blame for the months of fruitless negotiations with partners, resulting in the imposition of capital controls in July and the desolate state of the economy.
The amateurish troupe working for the inexperienced prime minister had sown the wind while the Greek people actually reaped the whirlwind: banks without money, pensioners without pensions, business without revenue and schools without teachers. If left-wing politics supposedly guarantee benefits for the masses, then Syriza has failed.
And nonetheless, Syriza must - some way or another - stay in power: the electorate must demand Alex Tsipras' accountability. His party, with a penchant for left-wing buzzwords, must be forced to implement agreements with international creditors.
Recent polls suggest that Syriza and liberal-conservative Nea Dimokratia party, led by Vangelis Meimarakis, are running a neck-and-neck race for first place. Very few votes will determine the outcome. The rest will be taken care of by an election law that rewards the strongest party with fifty bonus seats. All of this points to the fact that neither Syriza nor ND will attain an absolute majority. If ND wins, it will be able form a coalition with the social democratic PASOK party or the center-left The River (To Potami) party.
Syriza must face up to its responsibility
Still, a Syriza loss would be the worst election result for Greece: then Syriza would return to playing its old role of the dogged opposition and would then take every opportunity to torpedo the implementation of the agreement that the party itself had negotiated.
In Greek political culture, this path would only be a minor offense. A more fitting development for the country would be a coalition government with Syriza and one or even two of the smaller parties. Then, Alexis Tsipras' party would no longer be able to shirk its responsibilities. It would have to clean out Greece's closet. After seven months of unsuccessfully muddling along, Syriza could no longer use its political virginity as an excuse.
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