Foreign media and especially German newspapers have pointed out that former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ plan regarding his re-election could potentially fail. Several German newspapers indicate that Tsipras announced a snap election in order to ensure a majority vote in parliament, however, according to the recent polls and surveys, his party – SYRIZA – seems to be giving a head-to-head battle with the main opposition party – New Democracy.
Die Welt noted that Tsipras should be afraid that he will not be re-elected, referring to the difficulties that Greece’s former Prime Minister is facing, just a few days before the election. According to the German newspaper, when Tsipras took office in January, his party had a clear lead over New Democracy but now the gap has dangerously shrank. Die Welt also added that according to recent survey results, SYRIZA gathers just 22.2% of the Greek vote, while New Democracy has reached 21.2%.
German tabloid Bild wrote that just three weeks before the snap elections in Greece, Tsipras maintains a slight lead over New Democracy, pointing out that his plan to secure an absolute majority in parliament appears to have failed.
According to Stern, since SYRIZA rose to power, it has lost a large part of the public’s support. Furthermore, the German magazine added that despite Tsipras’ statements that the older Greek parties such as PASOK and New Democracy are a symbol for the political system’s corruption, he may in fact be forced to form a coalition government with one of the older political parties.
On the same note, French newspaper Liberation wrote that Tsipras is trying to persuade the Greek people to give him a majority vote in parliament so that he will not be forced to form a coalition government.
Finally, in his recent article for the New York Times, Hugo Dixon noted that the upcoming election in Greece will probably reopen Pandora’s Box, setting new financial risks, since no party appears to have the public’s full support and therefore they will not be able to form a strong government, capable of enforcing Greece’s bailout program.
“When Alexis Tsipras set the election in motion by resigning as Prime Minister, he probably thought he would win fairly easily. After all, opinion polls in July showed him head and shoulders above his opponents,” Dixon wrote. “But opinion polls that came out last week paint a different picture. In all, SYRIZA is the leading party, but its gap over the center-right New Democracy party has narrowed sharply.”
SYRIZA’s potential failure to receive a majority vote would cause great problems for Tsipras, given that he has openly stated he is not interested in forming a coalition government with New Democracy or other smaller centrist and center-left parties. This could lead to a third round of elections in Greece, in less than a year. “This could cause further economic mayhem because Athens would fall seriously behind in implementing its bailout deal. People might speculate again that Greece could leave the euro,” noted Dixon.
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