The Greek radical-left Syriza party holds the lead in the parliamentary elections in Greece with 35.47% of the votes after the processing of 95% of the ballots cast, gaining 145 out of 300 parliamentary seats.
The center-right party New Democracy, its main rival, won 28.07% of the votes and 75 seats.
The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party came in third place with 6.98%, gaining 18 seats in parliament, followed by Independent Greeks with 3.69% and 10 seats. Syriza's leader Alexis Tsipras has said that he will create a coalition with the Independent Greeks. Both parties would have a majority of 155 seats in Greece’s 300-seat parliament.
It is expected that the new Greek government will be sworn in tomorrow. "On Monday, Tsipras will meet President Prokopis Pavlopoulos to be sworn in. The government will be sworn in on Tuesday," RIA Novosti reports.
A senior research officer of the Center for European Studies at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Olenchenko, told Vestnik Kavkaza that at first glance such an outcome of the vote may seem surprising. "There are various comments that SYRIZA's policy is ambiguous, that it promises one thing and does another, and its voters still believe and vote for it. Of course, the question arises – why do they still believe?" he said.
However, if we dig deeper, the victory of the party is not surprising. "SYRIZA is not inferior, it is looking for a compromise, and it is a very big difference. The fact that SYRIZA has made significant concessions between January 25th, July 5th and September 20th. First, it is the maturity of the debt. Secondly, the main burden of overcoming the crisis falls more on business than on ordinary citizens. Of course, ordinary citizens vote, not businessmen. So it's natural that the population gives it a preference and voices," the expert noted.
"And the second factor is the factor of Tsipras. He is a sincere politician, who worries about Greece and its status," he added.
Speaking about the problem of the Greek debt, he noted that this problem is gradually permitted. "If you look at the period between July 5th, the dissolution of parliament in August and these elections, the indicators have improved markedly. Interest in investing in the country's economy and its securities has risen. Lenders are interested in the restoration of the Greek economy, as it will help them to get their money back," the expert believes.
"If you take the indicators of the Greek economy in January and today, there is an improvement. Accordingly, there are hopes that it can be formed in the trend, and the economy will recover," he added.
It is difficult to say anything definite regarding the impact of the result of the parliamentary elections on the development of Russian-Greek relations. "SYRIZA has the intention to develop the bilateral relations, including the transit of energy," Vladimir Olenchenko concluded.
