European elections (4): Greece and the rise of the real Left

Syriza, the party (formerly coalition) formed around the historical Eurocommunist split in Greece managed finally to win the elections in Greece with 27% of the vote, four percentual points over the ruling party Nea Demokratia (conservative, 22%). This outcome was already forecast in the first round of the local elections last week, where Syriza managed to get excellent results in spite of its relatively weak local structure, winning in Attica region. 

This is good news of course because it seems that finally one European country is drawing the thick red line that seems so necessary against the social destruction caused by the declining late Capitalist regime. But it is far from a decisive victory and, together with the rather weak results of the Left in most of the rest of Europe (Ireland and Spain are marching in the right, I mean: left, direction but that's about it), it seems we are still many years away from exiting the IMF-imposed tunnel of poverty and repression. 

Another worrying (even if expected) result from Greece is the relatively strong performance of the fascist parties Golden Dawn (9%) and LAOS (3%). Other lists with significant results were Elia DA (social-democrats) with 8%, To Potami (maverick populist) with 7%, old-school communist KKE with 6% and ANEL (dissident right) with less than 3%. 

The Syriza breakup party by the right DIMAR simply collapsed after it had supported the pro-IMF government (even if they eventually recanted). The alternative to Syriza by the left, Antarsya, which had performed rather well in the local elections (almost 3%) did not manage to repeat the feat in the European polls.

The victory of Syriza is hopeful but will not be enough to bring down the Troika government in Athens, so a real change in Greece will probably have to wait to 2016 (with these results and the extra 50 seats for coming first it would be impossible to form government without Syriza, however it may be impossible for them to form a stable coalition unless they manage to rally more voters).