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Friday, January 23, 2015

2015 Greek legislative election Sunday Jan 25,2015

The Greek Legislative Election is scheduled to be held on  on Sunday January 25,2015 to elect all 300 members to the Hellenic Parliament  in accordance with the Constitution

 The election will be held earlier than scheduled due to the failure of the Greek parliament to elect a new Greek President on Dec 29,2014

Background to the election

The incumbent Govt was formed after the June 2012 electiion by New Democracy,Panhellenic Socialist Movement(PASOK) and Democratic Left(DIMAR)

Antonis Samaras of New Democracy sworn in as the Prime Minister.

PASOK and DIMAR forwent participating in Samaras' cabinet, which is thus composed of New Democracy members and independents

 By April 2013, the government held 167 seats, down from 179 elected in the 2012 election. Of those, nine were expelled for voting against austerity packages, and three left voluntarily

On June 21, 2013, DIMAR chose to withdraw from the governing coalition in protest of the unilateral closure of the state-owned Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation(ERT), ten days before; an action opposed by both DIMAR and PASOK

DIMAR's withdrawal from the government left it with a slim three seat majority of 153 seats.

Antonis Manitakis, the Minister for Administrative Reform and Antonis Roupakiotis Minister of Justice, both independents, also submitted their resignation to the government

On  December 08,2014, Samaras announced that the presidential election would be brought forward by a few months. The first round of voting was held on December 17,2014, the second on December 23,2014 and the third on December 29,2014.On December 09,2014, Samaras had announced the candidacy of ND politician Stavros Dimas , jointly supported by the ruling ND–PASOK coalition, for the presidency

On December  29,2014, after failing to elect a presidential candidate in the third round of voting with the required 180 votes, prime minister Samaras asked incumbent President Karlos Papoulias to dissolve the parliament. On December 31,2014, Papoulias formally dissolved the parliament by decree and set the new election to be held on  January 25,2015 and the new parliament to reconvene on  February 05,2015


Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has made a final appeal to voters ahead of Sunday's general election, with his party battling the left-wing Syriza.
Antonis Samaras said that despite years of austerity, the country was showing signs of recovery.
Meanwhile, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said his party would restore "dignity" to Greece.
He wants to renegotiate Greece's debt and end the austerity measures imposed by an international bailout.

Opinion Polls indicate that Syriza  is set to take the most votes. Whether Syriza gains an outright majority or forms a ruling coalition, the party's firebrand leader Alexis Tsipras looks set to become prime minister of the troubled European nation.

The leftwing Syriza party, which has been leading in opinion polls, wants part of Greece's huge debt written off and austerity measures revoked


Greece has endured tough budget cuts in return for the bailout negotiated with the so-called troika of lenders - the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB)
The economy has shrunk drastically since the 2008 global financial crisis, increasing unemployment and throwing many Greeks into poverty.
There are nearly 10 million eligible voters, who are electing the country's 300-member parliament

Greece's Syriza Forms Anti-Bailout Coalition


The far-left Syriza party, which won Greece's general election on Sunday, has formed an anti-austerity governing coalition with the right-wing party Greek Independents.

With nearly all of the votes counted in Sunday's poll, Syriza looks set to have 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority. The Greek Independents are projected to have 13 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
Election results

Sunday's result means that a majority of voters in Greece have essentially rejected a core policy for dealing with the eurozone crisis

About Syriza and Greek Independents
Syriza, acronym meaning the "Radical Coalition of the Left", was formed in 2004 and is led by Alexix Tsipras
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has vowed to renegotiate Greece's bailout, worth €240bn (£179bn; $268bn), to end Greece's "humiliation and pain".
The Greek Independents, a right-wing party formed as a New Democracy splinter in 2012 and led by Panos Kammenos
Both parteies want to end austerity and renegotiate Greece's debt
Panos Kammenos and Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras of Syriza party and Panos Kammenos, chairman of the right-wing Independent Greeks party, meet in Athens on 26 January. 

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