Greece Punishes Austerity Politicians

Unfortunately, one of the parties that has benefited from Greeks turning against the ruling coalition that sold the country out to the bankers is the fascists.

Still, the leftist, anti-bailout party appears to be "the biggest winner," according to the NY Times:

ATHENS — Greek voters appeared to radically redraw the political map on Sunday, bolstering the far left and neo-Nazi right in a wave of protest against the dominant political parties they blame for the country’s economic collapse.

The parliamentary elections were the first time that Greece’s foreign loan agreement had been put to a democratic test, and the outcome appeared clear: a rejection of the terms of the bailout and a fragmentation of the vote so severe that the front-runner is expected to have extreme difficulty in forming a government, let alone one that can either enforce or renegotiate the terms of the bailout.

The elections were seen as a pivotal test, determining both the country’s future in Europe and its prospects for economic recovery and the outcome, along with that in France, could resonate far beyond Europe, possibly leading to more upheaval in the euro zone. The early results were also a clear rebuke to European leaders that their strategy for Greece had failed.

An exit poll made public just before 9 p.m. nearly two hours after the polls closed, indicated that center-right New Democracy party was in first place with 19 to 20.5 percent of the vote, much less than the 34 percent it won in 2009. But in a major shift, the Socialists, who dominated for decades, won 44 percent of the vote in 2009 and were in power when Greece asked for foreign aid in 2010, appeared to have 13 to 14 percent of the vote, putting them behind the Coalition of the Radical Left, called Syriza, which opposes Greece’s agreement with its foreign lenders. Syriza appeared to be drawing 15.5 to 17 percent of the vote.

A projection by the Interior Ministry based on votes counted at a quarter of the country’s 20,000 polling stations broadly reflected the results of the exit poll.

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Exit polls also showed the far-right Golden Dawn party, whose symbol resembles the swastika and whose members perform Nazi salutes at rallies, attracting 5 to 8 percent of the vote, enough to enter Parliament for the first time. The ultimate expression of a protest vote, the party has gained ground by campaigning on the streets of Athens, where many residents fear a sharp rise in illegal immigration and where politicians from mainstream parties have had trouble walking for fear of violent attacks from angry voters.

In a triumphant televised statement issued after the exit polls, the party’s leader, Nikos Michaloliakos, pledged to “fight the memorandum of the junta inside and outside Parliament,” a reference to the country’s debt deal with creditors.

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The biggest winner in the elections appeared to be Syriza, a coalition of leftist parties founded in 2004, which included splinter groups from Greece’s more hard-line Communist Party. Its campaign slogan was “They chose without us, we’re moving on without them,” and it appeared to receive the bulk of the Socialist protest vote. Led by Alexis Tsipras, an energetic 38-year-old, the party is in favor of Greece remaining in the euro zone and the European Union, unlike the Communist Party, but has opposed the loan agreement.

Describing the elections as “probably the most critical ever,” Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, a technocrat installed in November to help Greece push through changes promised to creditors by the Socialists, called for voters to think about the implications of their decision. “We must all think carefully as we are not only deciding who will govern, we are determining the country’s course for decades,” he said.

One possible outcome could be a government composed of small parties opposed to the onerous terms of a second debt deal hashed out between the previous government and creditors in February in exchange for about $170 billion euros in loans and a restructuring of the country’s privately held debt.

In any case, with up to 10 parties expected to enter Greece’s 300-seat Parliament it will be difficult to form a stable government.

Austerity took a drubbing in France, Greece and England this week.

The left, such as it is, was the beneficiary in France and England.

Greece is a little more complex, but the message there is clear too - "No!" to banker bailouts and enforced austerity.

If only we had a "left" here in the U.S. to turn to.

But we don't.

We have a right wing party that bails out the banks, drops thousands of drone bombs on innocents across the world, vilifies unions and looks to privatize everything in sight, including public education.

And we have the Republicans...