Greek elections to usher in anti-bailout parties

EU Observer ^ | 04.05.12 @ 09:29 (May 4) | Valentina Pop

[Olog-hai]

Greece's two main parties are set for heavy losses in Sunday's (6 May) elections, with anti-bailout groups on the extreme left and right to enter parliament for the first time, raising again the prospect of an exit from the eurozone.

Public anger at the austerity measures linked to the second, €130-billion-strong bailout package could translate into a new Parliament unable to form a ruling coalition and a new round of elections being called in the next months.

Observers expect the ruling center-right New Democracy and the center-left Pasok parties to come in first and second, but it is unclear whether they will hold enough seats to govern alone. Some eight smaller anti-bailout parties, including neo-Nazi Golden Dawn and nationalist Laos, are to make it into the Parliament. It will be the first time so many parties will form the legislature since democracy was restored in the 1970s. …

Pasok leader and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, who has been the main negotiator of the austerity package accompanying the second bailout, has appealed to voters not to let "neo-Nazis goose-step into parliament." …

[C19fan]

Wasn’t Golden Dawn one of the groups Hans Gruber from Die Hard demanded be released from prison? LOL!

[kabar]

Depending on the outcome, this could send shockwaves throughout the EU. If New Democracy and PASOK receive less than 50% combined, the results could signal the end of Greece in the EU and the rolling back of austerity measures elsewhere.

And the double whammy could be the election of Hollande to replace Sarkozy. Big Sunday on the horizon.

[Buckeye McFrog]

the only Golden Dawn I know was a chain of crappy little supermarkets back in the 70’s.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

It was also the name of the Victorian-era magical society that spawned Aleister Crowley.

[RedMDer]