Coalition of Pasok and New Democracy unlikely

EXIT POLL:VOTING IN a general election yesterday, Greeks delivered a devastating, if not fatal, blow to the decades-long dominance of its two big parties, punishing them for two years of austerity that have crippled the economy and sent unemployment soaring.

The results put in serious doubt the ability of the conservative New Democracy and centre-left Pasok to continue their pro-memorandum coalition alone.

The two parties, which have dominated Greek politics since the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, registered heavy losses after voters flocked to a plethora of anti-memorandum parties on the political left and right.

Analysis believe that between seven and nine parties will make it into parliament.

With over 40 per cent of the votes counted, New Democracy was on 20.2 per cent, down from 33.5 in the last election in 2009. As the first-past-the-post party it will bag a 50-MP bonus that was designed to make it easier for a single-party government to be formed.

But the result represents a Pyrrhic victory for the New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, who throughout the campaign said he would prefer to call a second round of elections in the summer rather than enter a coalition government.

Last night Mr Samaras proposed the formation of a national salvation government, comprised of pro-EU parties, which would undertake to renegotiate the bailout memorandum so as to spur development.

The unity government proposal echoed one made slightly earlier by Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos, although the latter did not speak of renegotiation.

But the problem for New Democracy and Pasok is that very few, if any, of the smaller parties entering parliament are prepared to work on the basis of Greece’s memorandum commitments.

The bruising was even more brutal for Pasok, which has seen its vote collapse from 44 per cent in 2009 to around 14 per cent, a result that will push it into a humiliating third place in parliament.

“The political landscape has changed today,” said Mr Venizelos, commenting on his party’s devastating performance.

Issuing a call for all pro-European forces to join a coalition government, Mr Venizelos said: “I will take the initiative for the creation of a government of national unity.”

Pasok and New Democracy had a 79 per cent share of the vote in the 2009 election. The combined 34 per cent share, according to the exit polls, falls far short of the 38 per cent that the parties would need to continue their coalition.

The clear winner on the night was the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza), which is likely to become the country’s second party. Fighting the election on a solidly anti-memorandum platform, the party took around 16 per cent of votes.

Commenting on the results, Syriza’s leader Alexis Tsipras said he would try to form a left-wing government that would renounce the “loan contract of subjugation” and the memorandum.

He said the result was a message to German chancellor Angela Merkel that “the policy of austerity has received a crushing defeat”.

But during the campaign his call for a united left government was rejected outright by the Communist Party (KKE) and the Democratic Left. The new parliamentary arithmetic has ousted the Communist Party as the third strongest in the chamber into fifth position.

Another winner of last night’s election is the New Democracy splinter Independent Greeks, which took almost 11 per cent.

A less welcome presence in the parliamentary chamber will be the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, which used its virulent anti-immigration platform to mop up the rage and despair of many of the citizens.

The party took almost 7 per cent of the vote, which may give it 21 MPs in the 300-seat parliament.