Greeks face hard choices at January 25 election

Greece is heading to an election on January 25, and the populist party SYRIZA is expected to win. The party is opposed to Greece's austerity measures, which have coincided with rising unemployment and worsening healthcare.

Greek elections, IMF

Many people heading to the polls in Greece on January 25 are sick of the country's austerity measures, which have coincided with rising HIV infection rates and unemployment.

Greece faces an election on January 25, after years of austerity measures that some say have lowered Greek's standards of living.

In 2010 Greece, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank agreed to raise taxes, freeze pensions and tighten other spending in exchange for a €110 billion package.

The deal meant Greece, with government debt at 130 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2010 and 175 per cent in 2014, was saved from bankruptcy.
The populist party, The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), is predicted to easily win, Reuters reports.

Its identity page on the party website says the party is committed to “the democratic overthrow of the political system and the structures that support it, to open the way to a government of the Left”.

The party is opposed to the austerity measures in Greece.

Those measures have led to a deterioration in healthcare, more HIV infections and a spike in suicides, The Inependent reported last year.

Unemployment has risen in Greece since the austerity measures were introduced in 2010.
In Australia, Greek Australians and people with Greek heritage watch the developments in Europe with a range of emotions.

For John Kallimanis, his emotion is concern.

He is the NSW representative for Greece's ruling conservative party, New Democracy In Greece, which is behind SYRIZA in the opinion polls just days before the crucial election.

He said Greece’s economy was just starting to recover, right as the country heads into an election.

This was the worst time for Greece to go to an election, he said.

“The bad thing about SYRIZA is [it] has not come out with a plan… how [it]’s going to rule the country,” Mr Kallimanis said.

“If you just go onto the street and tell the people what they want to hear, yes, you become very popular.

“When you become a government you become very dangerous.

“Personally I say God help the Greeks.”

Australia SYRIZA spokesperson Adam Rorris said Greek people were suffering from the country's austerity measures.

“Everyone here [who is] of Greek background, pretty much has family back in Greece,” Mr Rorris said.

“What they’re seeing now is living standards going backwards."

The party's suggestions for the economy would not hurt the country, and would be better than business as usual, he said.

“I think Greece is in a catastrophic circumstance,” Mr Rorris said.

“The only danger now is to stay the course.”

He said the current policies would lead to the further destruction of the fabric of Greek society.

There was a lot riding on this election for Greece and for Europe, Mr Rorris said.


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3 min read

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By Jason Thomas

Source: SBS


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