Greek elections and challenges

   According to the preliminary results, the left-radical party SYRIZA won the parliamentary elections in Greece. The voting results are very close to the forecast made on the basis of polls (see bar charts). SYRIZA won 10% more votes than in 2012, and will get 149 (vs 71 previously) seats in the new Parliament of Greece which does not provide it with the majority directly, but makes it easy to form the majority in the coalition.

   The main message of SYRIZA in the elections was a rejection of austerity measures imposed on Greece by European Union and the so-called "Troika". At the same time, the leader of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras confirmed his commitment to this course immediately after the elections, but also stated the absence of intent to declare a default or to leave the Eurozone.

   Broad support of SYRIZA's political platform in Greek society is not surprising. It can be seen that so-called "policy of tightening belts" simply did not work (despite the improved current account), so why should it be continued, and why not to try something different? It should be also noted, that Alexis Tsipras paid attention to the most important current challenges (see the data from Fragile state Index on radar chart below) such as high level of unemployment and poverty, slow economic growth, low level of public trust in the government (due to the fact that the previous government was supported by EU-IMF austerity measures), external enforcements, tight credit conditions, weak banking system, relatively high tax level and weak overall business environment. For that matter, SYRIZA's political platform looks not only like populist one. In fact, it is highly sophisticated, well-designed and based on current economic situation.