If the numbers don’t give ‘the correct’ result, then the authorities have to either fix the numbers or not have a result. As fixing numbers is a well known tradition of the Greek electoral system, used throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, when trees and dead people voted, to repeat this now would be a step too far. So the recent ‘discoveries’ by the police of armed caches, of declarations on the internet, which can no longer be sent to ‘Eleftherotypia’*, as it has shut down after the good old days of fake ‘17th November’ terrorism, by some alleged new ‘terrorist’ group called 12th February **Statements by both LAOS and the KKE alluding to some form of provocation leading up to the elections.
Only 25 days remain for the elections which doesn’t give enough time even to organise the legal representatives for each electoral centre or party lists, which leaves one with the idea that Kazakis’ (EPAM-United Revolutionary Popular Front) proposal to both Sinaspismos and the KKE to agree to a government backed by the army, will be the outcome of the ‘elections’?
Or a provocation?
Two sets of elections as announced by Samaras (if he doesn’t win outright) sounds absurd under conditions whereby the Troika run Greece and are advising the Greeks how to vote (Lagarde said they mustn’t vote for the extremes).
The pre-electoral charade by PASOK regarding illegal immigration is an attempt to gain votes from the far right (Golden Dawn) but instead has backfired as riots have occurred in the few areas where the sites of new immigration reception centres have been announced.
The death of the pensioner Dimitris Hristoulas in a dramatic and tragic fashion underlies the situation million of pensioners find themselves in: under direct assault by the vampires of the IMF. This forced the government’s hand and it had to announce an election, despite the fact that nearly every senior politician has stated they shouldn’t occur and the unelected Papadimos government should drag on until the 4 year term of PASOK expires, despite Papandreou having left permanently.
So what will happen? Without the two main parties gaining more than 40% combined, they cannot form a coalition government which is what is required if they are to continue governing on behalf of the IMF. Whilst the GDP collapse is now nearing 25% since the Lehman Bros crash and Greece is resembling the dying days of the Weimar Republic, we have fragmentation of the electoral parties, mass abstention and a massive rise in the anti-Troika (‘Memorandum’ as it is known in Greece) vote, becoming the overwhelming majority. By all accounts the two main parties will have succeeded if they gain 25% of the votes combined, but this success will not be enough to secure a governing coalition. So they will need votes from other parties.
The Left will not offer any support, apart from the Democratic Left (but their vote will by all accounts not hit double figures) and there is the party of the ex-New Democracy MP Kammenos ‘Independent Greeks’ (who states he wont support the IMF) but if his votes are crucial to forming a government, then anything is possible. But will he gain 15%? It’s a big ‘IF’.
*‘Eleftherotypia’ translated as "Freedom of the Press", the Athens newspaper which, inter alia, ‘leaked’ material from ‘17th November’, the state sponsored terrorist group.
**’12th February’ alludes to the events of the biggest general strike in Greek history when the state burnt down 40 odd buildings in central Athens.
Or War with Turkey?
The creation of an AOZ-Tax Free Zone around the coastal waters of Greek Cyprus and the agreement with Israeli and US oil drilling companies has led to Turkey becoming revanchists once more threatening all manner of things, the latest being a unilateral declaration of independence of Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus and their creation of a tax free zone for drilling of oil, which may impinge on Greek or Cypriot territorial waters.
Strikes Continue...
The bosses having been given diplomatic immunity by the Troika are on a mission to abolish all labour regulations and get away with paying the least. Two strikes cover the backdrop of the new situation, which has even been rare for a Greek electoral period. One by the seafarers who are striking against the removal of their pension fund by the state and its merger with other funds and the ending of what they call ‘cabotage’ ie employing non indigenous shipping crews on ship within Greek territorial waters, ie what happened in Ireland a few years ago. At the same time following on from the successful strike of the seafarers we had the announcement of a strike of the private coach companies which ferry Greeks from city to city, the KTEL network. Bosses are using the IMF measures as an excuse to make their own cuts or not even pay staff their salaries claiming always ‘financial’ difficulties. the disarming of the riot police by truckers outside of the Ministry of Labour was little reported, but it did occur, showing a willingness now by strikers to turn up for confrontation with the IMF's praetorian guards.
The Left could Win if it Wanted to...
If we aren’t going to have a provisional government or new Ministers assigned to Ministries as has been the norm since 1974 for the upcoming elections and there isn’t any more time for legal representatives to be appointed that implies that some form of new electoral coup will occur, similar in form to what occurred in February. With the assumption of power of Papadimos, but more akin to what used to happen between the end of the civil war and 1967.
Unlike past elections the Left if it united could have won. That is what the situaiont demands. It doesn’t seek victory. Unlike PASOK which started in 1973 as a smaller party than both the KKE and KKE (interior-Euros) and outflanked them by 1981 as it sought power, the KKE doesn’t seek anything apart from the state subsidy it collects to maintain its operations (printing press, radio, tv, newspaper). It doesn’t seek to put into practice what it alleges to campaign for=Exit from the EU, Popular Government. That doesn’t imply that Sinaspismos desires for a joint electoral slate is honest or open. They only seek that so as to ensure they have representation in Parliament. They are only interested in seats, to ensure state funding. If they were honest in wanting to change things they should have resigned from Parliament way back in May-June when millions hit the main squares. They didn’t. When the 2nd IMF bailout occurred once more they didn’t resign. As opposed to 1940 when the German flag was ripped off the Akropolis by a group of Greeks including Glezos MP (who for years was PASOK), we now had the disgusting spectacle of the ‘oppositional’ Greeks Theodorakis-Glezos being given prominent seats in Parliament and watching the vote for the 2nd Bailout. Once again the official Left refused to leave and join the people on the streets.
It is that such unity would put them in the hot seat to answer the vital questions of the present time and in that situation, having been toadies deeply connected with that impasse, would expose their total worthlessness. They want to avoid this at all costs, much more than engaging in a protracted, disciplined and persistent struggle agains the Troika.
No one is expecting any outcome from these elections and under the present circumstances where the Left is standing in around 9 different formations, there is nothing to expect. If they were serious they should have at least joined forces in 1 or 2 formations as their positions are essentially identical, thus focusing the anti-IMF vote and making it more clear. Having more candidates from more ‘parties’ (2/3 are grouplets) than the Right, the Left is showing it isn’t serious at all. It has a clear electoral majority as things stand but it does not seek power. Electorally divided it is adding to the confusion of the situation and thus re-affirming its role as the IMF’s last best hope for Greece
Postscript
Standing on the Left
KKE-Stalinists
Sinaspsimos-Euros
Dimokratiki Aristera-Euros
Antarsia-Anti-capitalist globalist left
KKE-ml-Maoists
OKDE-Mandel 'Trotskyists'
EEK-WRP 'Trotskyists'
EPAM-Kazakis -Left Patriots
Due to the warped nature of the Greek electoral system which has more to do with Mussolinis Italy the first party that gets the most votes gets a bonus of 50 MP's.
Thus all 'parties' that dont get the 3% threshold to enter Parliament add votes towards the party that gets the most votes which in this case may be New Democracy-Samaras. So the so-called 'anti-capitalist' Left should in reality just go and vote New Democracy, as that is what they are doing in standing separetely and not uniting... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 21st
KKE via its spokesperson Pafilis announces that PASOK and New Democracy are going to be winners of the elections with a reduced majority. The Lambrakis press (Vima) who are the Murdochs of Greece announce a victory of the two main parties with 45% and 170MP's. The 45% is made up of 25% going to the two main parties and the remaining being the undecided voters. They are going to do a re-run of 1961 it appears, total fraud in elections. As Goebells said, 'if the events dont fit so much worse for the events'April 22ndGoldman Sachs on Greek Elections
Given the electoral law described above, even under current polling rates, the two leading parties (PASOK and ND) would likely gather enough parliamentary votes (>151) to form a majority government jointly. The opposition parties are plentiful but fragmented. There are stark ideological differences among the parties of the left – and much more so between those of the far left and the far right. The agendas and the pursuits are very different, as are the positions on EMU participation. The probability that the opposition parties form a stable and coherent coalition of their own is fairly low, in our view. Polling companies continue to warn that the high percentage of undecided voters creates a wide margin of error around current polls. Given the high public support for the EUR (typically north of 60% in past surveys), the current polls probably understate the actual ballot results for PASOK and ND (the parties most clearly pro-EUR)Which implies the fragmentation of the electorate by the Left, under the current conditions aids the two main parties to maintain power, if they form a coalition, to go for the '3rd Bailout' and new round of cuts in June... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23rd April An alleged attack against a PASOK candidate Petros Efthimiou occurred by the far rightist formation Golden Dawn (Hrisi Avgi). All the parliamentary parties of the Right and the 'Left' came out to condemn this stage managed event. A BBC news crew 'happened' to be there and the reality is that they are promoting this story so as to stop all peoples reactions against the ne0-fascist 4th Reich. They allready announced a ban on yoghurt throwing and both the major parties are only having pre-electoral rallies in closed arenas. ___________________________________________________________________ 1stMAYThe Coming HOLOCAUST in JUNE if PASOK-ND wins the Elections... On the govts webpage in relation to taxation-accounting issues the measures which they want to introduce after the elections 1. Abolition of the 13th-14th salary everywhere 2. New reduction of the minimum wage to Bulgarian levels alongside with whatever reduction occur on wages, unemployment benefit etc.! 3. New lowering of basic and enhanced pensions. 4. Minimising the annual holidays by 10 days. 5. Lowering the added increase for working overtime or on Sunday. 6. Totally flexible labour relations, abolition of labour contracts and rights. 7. Immediate firing of 50,000 public sector workers in 2012 and 200,000 in a three year period. 8. Abolition of pension annuity in the public sector. 9. Gradual abolition of redundancy pay in the private sector either due to being fired or being pensioned off. 10. Total abolition of tax exemptions and all special regimes of taxation. Abolition of interest exemption for mortgages, rents, studies, insurance, hospital visits etc. 11. Increase of the lower band of VAT from 6.5%-13% 12. Abolition of lower rate of VAT on the islands. 13. Placing the farmers on VAT 14. New special tax for alcohol/cigarettes 15. New tax on second hand cars. 16. New increases in road tax. 17. A lowering or abolition of minimum threshold of untaxed income 18. Changing property values every year. 19. Equalising oil based burners for heating with those of cars. 20. Abolition of repossessions of ones first house. 21. Making permanents the housing tax to two alone=unifying the 33 taxes of local government into another. 22. Tax on living in your own home. 23. Abolition of the wages of priests. 24. Emergency taxes after the elections (income taxes, emergency solidarity tax, taxes on property, 2010, 2011 and a special one for 2012) 25. Private tax collectors 26. Selling off national property. -WE ARE GOING FOR FAKE ELECTIONS _The Opposition is Wanting, below what is required under the current conditions -With the enhanced electoral majority system once again the minority of Quislings are going to Govern. -Organisation and Struggle the Only Road ________________ 24th AprilEx-Education Minister of PASOK attacked in cafeteria. Ex-GSEE Union Boss now a PASOK MP attacks a woman in a cafeteria and gets her arrested. Venizelos the leader of PASOK states he is going to have a pre-electoral rally in Sindagma Sq. This could be the scene of provocation or a massive police control operation like the one on 25th March 2012. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 26th AprilKazakis and EPAM after announcing they would stand with Theodorakis Spitha have had many internal splits and departures. His right hand man is a PASOK NATOist and now they are standing with rightists like Papathemelis. It has been revealed a secret meeting occurrind in October with the Kouris brothers that run the PASOK papers Avriani and PARON gr and Kazakis was in on the deal. What that deal is is indeed one of the mysteris of the situation. 27th AprilRussians want to place electoral observers on Greek elections. Union of legal reps says that not enough time available for carrying out proper inspections of electoral conditions. There is no interim government either. Tsipras states a future Left government can rely on the votes of Kammenos (Independent Greeks) creating division in his camp.
