The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Tsipras joins May in snap election loser hall of fame...

    By jollyroger on Sun, 07/07/2019 - 6:23pm |

     

    Heads of state who are bound by fixed terms must envy, from time to time, the parliamentary leaders who can snap their fingers (as it were) and muster up a surprise election.

     

    Surely, one might think, this lightning bolt, when deployed, would signal that the perpetrator had caefully analyzed the electoral terrain.

     

    Or not...

     

     

    Tsipras, who will not be missed by those who consider him a sell out to the austerityarchy, seems to have misjudged his moment, as did British (soon to be ex) Prime Minister May.

     

    Should'a called Nate Silver for advice...

     

    Comments

    The Beeb calls the new government a return to "center right" and the ousted Tsipras a "left wing populist", so it's more like May being elected and Corbyn being tossed out?

    Greek elections: Centre-right regains power, 2 hrs. ago

    [....] Current projections give New Democracy an outright majority, as the winner receives 50 extra seats in parliament [....]

    Turnout in the election was about 57% – one of the lowest figures in decades.

    [....] 

    What do results say so far?

    Early results also predicted the far-right Golden Dawn party would be short of the 3% minimum needed to enter parliament by the narrowest of margins - at 2.95% for now.

    The nationalist pro-Russian Greek Solution and MeRA25, the left-wing party of former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, were both projected to just exceed the electoral threshold.

    Too many promises

    Analysis by Mark Lowen, BBC News, Athens

    Back in 2015, Alexis Tsipras seemed like the figure of change.

    In his firebrand rallies, the left-wing populist vowed to tear up Greece's bailout programme and end austerity.

    But he hopelessly overpromised.

    Under pressure from the EU, capital controls on its banks and the threat of "Grexit" - departure from the euro - he was forced into a humiliating U-turn, signing up to a third, €89bn (£80bn; $100bn) bailout, and more austerity.

    His support base began to ebb away.

    As the Mitsotakis era begins, one of Europe's iconic leftist leaders of the past four years departs the stage.

    But he'll regroup in opposition and wait in the wings to seize on any misstep by Greece's new leader [....]


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/07/2019 - 11:12pm

    Varoufakis, no surprise, is a left wing hero, unlike Tsipras, who is a stomp down disappointment


    by jollyroger on Mon, 07/08/2019 - 3:39am

    I'm pretty amazed by your certainty in analyzing a complex econo-political situation in a far corner of Europe.

    Sure these villian-hero narratives are that easy to ascribe?


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/08/2019 - 7:14am

    Here's a 'splainer op-ed @ The Guardian by David Adler a writer and a member of DiEM25's Coordinating Collective. He lives in Athens, Greece:

    The three mistakes behind Syriza’s demise in Greece

    Alexis Tsipras and his party promised ‘hope is coming’, then refashioned his government as a rightwing force

    In January 2015, Alexis Tspiras stormed to power as a firebrand of the radical left. He vowed to wage war against the Greek oligarchy, stand up to the EU technocracy and strike fear into the hearts of investors around the world.

    “Greece leaves behind catastrophic austerity, it leaves behind fear and authoritarianism, it leaves behind five years of humiliation and anguish,” he proclaimed to a throng of supporters on election day in 2015.

    But that was then. In the four years that followed, Tsipras tried desperately to endear himself to the establishment he once pledged to fight. He protected the old oligarchs and ushered in a generation of new ones. He implemented austerity measures so brutal that even Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble accused him of “putting the burden on the weak”. And he placated international investors with big promises of small taxes and golden visas.

    “Reforms are like a bicycle,” Tsipras told the Financial Times. “If you don’t [make] them, you fall down.” [....]


    by artappraiser on Mon, 07/08/2019 - 12:32pm

    I'm not at all sure....my point is that the certitude that one might suppose informs the decision to call an election when not otherwise obliged to subject oneself to the judgment of the ballot appears in the cited instances to have been wildly misinformed

     

    I suppose we could profitably add the Cameron decision to bury Brexit in a referendum defeat to the ill advised voluntary election tally.


    by jollyroger on Mon, 07/08/2019 - 1:01pm