Tsipras: SYRIZA does not have a secret agenda or a "plan B" (VIDEO)

SYRIZA seeks the parliamentary majority and for this reason "I do not want to even think of a run-off," SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said in an interview with STAR TV late on Monday night.

It is necessary, Tsipras said, that people give to his party a strong mandate to negotiate with Greece's partners and it has the experience and the knowledge to prevent the run-off scenario.

He expressed his certainty for the victory and said that people will choose SYRIZA not because it has acquired a radical left ideology but because it will select the course of dignity.

Asked with which parties he will cooperate if he does succeed a parliamentary majority, Tsipras said that his party will move based on its programme and suggested that he would prefer to have a vote of tolerance from the communist party (KKE). If a vote of tolerance or vote from KKE is necessary for SYRIZA to implement its programme, it would be inconceivable for KKE to refuse, however, it is something that KKE will decide, Tsipras said and ruled out the possibility of a cooperation with PASOK, the newly founded KIDISO and Potami for which he said that it seeks to become a supplementary power to the establishment and noted the difference between SYRIZA and Potami's positions.

On the failure of cooperation with Democratic Left (DIMAR), Tsipras said that a sincere programmatic dialogue was held and that his party set as prerogative the programme it presented in Thessaloniki, however, cooperation did not exist. He clarified that this does not mean that cooperation between the two parties cannot be achieved after the elections.

Asked if SYRIZA will finally choose to leave from the eurozone as a response to the pressure, Tsipras said that we should be mad to have such a plan. The discussion in Europe has changed and SYRIZA has been vindicated, he said, noting that his party does not have a secret agenda or a plan B.

He expressed the certainty that Europe will accept SYRIZA's plan adding that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will take advantage of SYRIZA's rise in order a solution to be found and to present it as her own achievement.

SYRIZA will ask for a debt restructuring with write-off of its largest part and a growth clause in order to become sustainable, he said. "We do not want consensus to continue the memorandum, but a policy that will be redemption for the country".

Asked on whether he will accept an extension of the payoff period and reduction of the interests, Tsipras said that he will set the negotiation bar high.

At a query if his earlier statement "no sacrifice for the euro" exists, Tsipras replied "euro with democracy, justice and solidarity."

Sources: ANA-MPA, enikos, YouTube

New opinion poll only gives SYRIZA 1.9% lead over New Democracy

A latest opinion poll conducted by Interview on behalf of northern Greece's Vergina TV shows that the gap between the conservative New Democracy (ND) and the Radical Left main opposition party SYRIZA has narrowed to almost 1.9%.

The poll, which was conducted between the period January 9-11 on a sample of 1,000 people concludes that SYRIZA remained in the lead, with 28.3%, followed by the New Democracy party with 26.4%, The (media backed) To Potami party at 5.5%, the far-right Golden Dawn party (GD) at 5.1%, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the PASOK party at 4.1% each, George Papandreou's newly-formed Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO) at some 2%, the Independent Greeks party (ANEL) at 1.7% and the Democratic Left party (DIMAR) at a mere 0.2%.

In the same poll, participants said that they believe that the scenario of Greece's exit from the eurozone is more likely to happen under a SYRIZA-led government and less likely under a New Democracy-led government (10%).

At least 41% of participants also said they are convinced that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras can better negotiate with the country's lenders rather than SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras (32%).

Not 5, Not 10, But 21 Parties Participating in Greece's General Elections

The deadline that was set for Greek political parties to apply for participation in the upcoming general elections -January 25th- expired last Sunday. As reported by the press, 21 parties, 4 coalitions of parties and one independent have applied.

The Supreme Court in the coming days is now expected to rule if the applications submitted are eligible. 

SYRIZA Lead Over ND Narrowing

According to the latest opinion poll conducted by GPO the difference between the New Democracy party and SYRIZA stands at 3.2%, while according to ALCO the difference is 3.3% – and 2% according to INTERVIEW.

All three polls clearly indicate that SYRIZA’s lead over ND is starting to narrow.

More analytically, SYRIZA reaches 28.5% – New Democracy 25.3% – The POTAMI 5.8% – The Central Communist party KKE 5.7% – Golden Dawn 5.4% – PASOK 5% – ANEL 2.7% – Socialist Democrats movement 2.6% and LAOS 2%.

About 40.3% of respondents said they prefer Antonis Samaras for Prime Minister and only 34.9% prefer Alexis Tsipras.

The good news: All three polls conclude that the newly formed Socialist Democrats movement of George Papandreou, Karatzaferis' LAOS party and maybe even the Independent Greeks party will stay out of the Parliament.

Angela Gerekou To New Democracy? - MAJOR FAIL Mr. Samaras

The wife of famed Tolis Voskopoulos, and former PASOK MP (and G.Papandreou favorite) Angela Gerekou, on Thursday announced that she is going to run with the conservative New Democracy party in the upcoming general elections.

Gerekou was an active member of junior coalition government partner PASOK since 2004, having been elected in Corfu. A few days she suddenly realized that PASOK wasn't her "thing" anymore so she decided to move to the conservative camp.

In her statement Gerekou notes that “the people demand a clear position, consistent stance and responsible attitude” and that she continues to “believe that cooperation and unity is the only path to reconstruction of the center left”. She explained that she united with “those who defend the need for a powerful third pole, with an enhanced position in a long-term cooperation government”.

The development has already angered conservatives and especially those who still support the Costas Karamanlis block. At the same time it has caused anger and frustration at PASOK, with a various officers arguing that it was a “despicable move” and that “it is inconceivable that Antonis Samaras will assume such a political cost”.

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos sent an open letter to New Democracy leader expressing his frustration while he slammed Gerekou's departure from PASOK.

Get Ready Ellada - Papandreou Forms New Political Party

Former Prime Minister and leader of PASOK George Papandreou is going to announce the name and statute of his new party in the Supreme Court on Saturday. After a couple of years of touring with various lecture groups across the world where he would read prepared speeches, after living the high life in Manhattan where he rented an apartment next to Lady Gaga and after pretending to take on the role of a global thinker at Harvard, Papandreou has decided to come back to Greece and once again be active politically.

Despite his personal and historic ties to PASOK, George has decided to form his own political party. HellasFrappe predicted this months ago and expects that George will form a party that is modeled after the US Democratic party.  As announced, the new party will be called Democratic Socialist Movement.

According to a statement released by Papandreou, the formal declaration of the founding of his new party, along with the announcement of its name, symbols and goals, will take place at a special event on Saturday at the Benaki museum.

Meanwhile, he released a statement on his web site about the new political party. He said that the party, whose name he did not reveal, aims to contest the upcoming January 25th general election.

Below is the full statement (translation by The TOC).

"A new year, a new beginning. The time has come for the next big step of the progressive forces of the country.
The time has come to build, all together, the new political home which will house our progressive values, the values which united us and unite us.
Listening to your voice, the demand of thousands of citizens from all of Greece, we are taking the initiative and extending an invitation to all progressive citizens to participate in this new beginning.
Tomorrow (January 3rd), at 5.30pm in the amphitheater of the Benaki Museum – Piraeos St. 138, we are not founding just another party.
From tomorrow, we are taking part in the launching of a Movement, which can and must rise to the major challenges which concern the country and the Greek people.
A Movement with which we want to secure the presence of the real forces of progress in the next parliament, the forces which believe - and have proven their belief in practice with real democratic reforms – that Greece will not definitively surpass the crisis, will not fully recover, if it doesn’t change fundamentally, if it doesn’t change its foundations, on the basis of a ‘Greek Plan’ and Institutions that work – with the citizen as an ally.
A Movement which will work in the next parliament to secure all of the necessary preconditions for a safe and final exit from the crisis.
A Movement which will give all of its powers to make a reality of the transition to a Post-clientelist Greece, with a vision of building a Greece of Justice and Creativity.
A Movement, the creation of which will be completed with an open, participatory conference – which will be programmed for after the elections, where all will be decided. By the Movement, with broad participation, with principles of self-organization from the base. As befits a Movement which reflects the principles of Democracy, Socialism and Sustainable Development.
A Movement, which puts Greece and its citizens first – not all manner of clientelist and other interests.
With my wishes for a happy New Year for all Greeks, I issue a call for participation.
From tomorrow, the 3rd of January.
Let’s go."

Obviously the announcement is Papandreou's formal break with PASOK, the party which was founded by his late father Andreas Papandreou.

His position in the party after his political downfall a couple of years ago has been very shaky. He was elected PASOK leader in 2004 (after Costas Simitis passed on the ring of power to him) and finally became Prime Minister in October 2009 after (suspiciously) defeating Costas Karamanlis.

He was accused of working underground with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) towards some sort of bailout deal before the national elections in 2009, as well as for delaying to deal with the financial crisis. He is also continually slammed for signing the original bailout deal with the so-called Troika of creditors (European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund) in May 2010 which tied Greece hand and foot to its lenders as well as was the foundation that led to all the other Memorandums.

Following his announcement on his web site, and before the formal announcement on Saturday afternoon, PASOK issued a statement which slammed Papandreou's move characterizing it as "immoral" and "absurd". At the same time it accused him of betraying the memory of his father, the late Andreas Papandreou, PASOK's founder and long-time leader.

PASOK stressed that George Papandreou is not forming a new party because of political differences, but to settle a personal score (with current PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos) and to have his own "personal, wholly-owned party."

     "There's no political reason, and there neither is any historical or moral basis. The motives are strictly personal," PASOK said.

Parallel to this, the statement also blames Papandreou for making the "crucial decisions to enter into the original (bailout deal) in 2010".

The split in PASOK is also expected to resurface some bright characters from PASOK who fell under great controversy and scrutiny in the past. One such character is Michalis Karchimakis. As expected he said that he is going to join Papandreou's new movement (because he probably feared that Venizelos would not include him on his electoral lists because of his scandalous past - Read about that by clicking HERE).

Of course Karchimakis is just one of many that are expected to follow. The "movement" is expected to resurface other former MPs (m@lakes) such as former Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis, Simon Kedikoglou and others.

George's move is also expected to steal many voters from SYRIZA since most of this party's supporters are former Papandreou fans.

Sources in Greek - TOC, ProtoThema, enikos, Defencenet

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• Guess Who Is Back? - Papandreou Hints At Establishing New Party

Greek PM: Syriza has a hidden agenda (VIDEO)

As the election campaign kicks off, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras accused SYRIZA on Friday of preparing to make unilateral moves that are aimed at sparking a Greek default if it ever comes to power. The comments come after the main opposition party attempted to distance itself from suggestions by one of its own MPs that it just might stop repaying the country’s debt.

     “We will win and that will be the end of populism in Greece,” he told party officials at a gathering at New Democracy’s headquarters on Sygrou Avenue in central Athens.
     “Our weapon is the truth, our banner is responsibility. They [SYRIZA] have a secret agenda.”

The Greek prime minister reiterated the comments that were made by SYRIZA MP Giannis Tolios where he argued that if his party comes to power then it could stop paying Greece’s debt.

     “SYRIZA will take unilateral action that will cause a default,” said Samaras.
     “At their conference, they said they would not pay interest or principal – that is the definition of a default.”

Tolios repeated the comments in a radio interview on Friday but SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis insisted that a leftist government would not make any moves that would lead to a so-called credit event.

sources: enikos.gr, ekathimerini.com, alpha tv

Tweet War - Georgiadis Slams Attica Governor for Ignoring Church Service on New Year’s Day

The election campaign has indeed kicked off and this is very profound in the social media. Conservative MP Adonis Georgiadis, who is known for his tweets, slammed (SYRIZA-backed) Attica Governor Rena Dourou in a message on Thursday for not attending a special church service that was held on New Year’s day. In an obvious attempt to include religion in the pre-election campaign, Georgiadis described Dourou's absence a "disgrace."

Dourou's absence comes as no surprise because she took a non-religious oath in parliament when she was sworn in as governor, and she has repeatedly declared her belief in the separation of church and state as have other SYRIZA MPs. The surprise, however, is that Gerogiadis used the issue of religion in the pre-election campaign.

The tweet war continued when her deputy, George Karameros. After receiving word of the ND spokesman's message, he justified her absence by sending his own tweet which claimed that she was at a civil protection meeting. He also did not hesitate to accuse Georgiadis of poaching for votes.

(He is right. Religion should be kept out of every election campaign.)

     “The church unites, you divide,” he told Georgiadis while Left.gr news site likened him  to an ‘inquisitoner’.

Georgiadis responded right away saying that Karameros and SYRIZA must learn to take criticism, but he did wish them a happy new year.

DIMAR Leader Lost - Focus On Election Campaign Strategy

The Democratic Left party (DIMAR), which is doing very poorly in the opinion polls at the moment, is scheduled to hold a meeting of the central committee and standing congress on Saturday where it is going to focus on its strategy for the upcoming general elections on January 25th. DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis is expected to open the meeting with a speech.

Meanwhile DIMAR MP Giannis Panousis said in an announcement that is not going to run in the upcoming elections and was fiercely critical of Kouvelis’ leadership, arguing that the DIMAR president is clueless in where he is leading the party. He also claimed that DIMAR should consider forming alliances, but must first make sure that it is not incorporated by other parties.

New Democracy election campaign focuses on “responsibility” & “truth”

The general elections at the end of January are critical for both the conservative New Democracy and its party leader Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. The new election campaign, according to press reports, will focus on “responsibility” and “truth”.

The conservatives may have consistently trailed behind the main opposition SYRIZA party in opinion polls, but Samaras has continued to be a more suitable Premier. It is thus expected that this will ultimately sway voters to reject SYRIZA and disprove the recent polls. This fact alone has begun shrinking the gap between the two contending parties.

It is expected that this will also reign in Samaras' rhetoric throughout the election campaign.

He has already noted that SYRIZA aims to pull out Greece from the Eurozone and bankrupt the country.

Samaras is also expected to be the central figure in New Democracy’s campaign, in an effort to attract undecided voters who abstained from the 2012 elections. However, this will not be enough, so the strategy will also focus on attracting centrist voters who are concerned over political stability.

SYRIZA Troubled Over Election & Post-Election Alliances

There is good news and bad news with the radical left main opposition party SYRIZA. It was prepared for snap elections since it released its first election campaign spot, but it now has to address the significant problem of election and post-election alliances.

The rumored alliance with the Democratic Left party (DIMAR) failed right after the Presidential election last week and SYRIZA is now looking elsewhere to form alliances. There is only one problem: The election campaign is too short and there may be problems in coming to an agreement over terms and conditions with other smaller parties.

In such a context, a central committee meeting that was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, where SYRIZA candidates and alliances were to be discussed has suddenly been postponed.

But the dilemmas of the radical left party do not end there. SYRIZA is also under a lot of pressure from New Democracy’s public relations team which argues that a left-wing government will result in the non-payment of debt. The comments were made in response to the statements that have been made lately by various opposition party officers. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA MP George Stathakis have repeatedly said that they will not take any unilateral decision “unless provoked” (this of course does not deny the allegations made by ND).

SYRIZA's central committee member and Left Platform officer Giannis Tolios recently cited an earlier party decision that stressed that a suspension of debt and interest payments may be necessary while he also underlined the importance of introducing a growth and social clause to the repayment plan. Milios commented on ANT1 that “we may not pay, because we will negotiate.”