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.”