Rise and Fall. Voter support for SYRIZA before and after the Referendum of 5 July 2015

Articles, Newspapers & Magazines, Scientific Work

Published in the journal Tetradia, issue 66-67, Autumn-Winter 2016-2017
1. January 2015: Historic political reversal
2. The significance of the referendum of 5/7/2015 for SYRIZA’s voter support
3. Social polarization deepens: electoral and social geography of the referendum
4. “Democratic moment”
5. Reversal of the reversal. SYRIZA after the referendum
6. The September election: continuity and discontinuity in SYRIZA’s electoral base
7. After the September 2015 election
8. From “party-politicization” to “de-politicization”. SYRIZA and the party system in the post-democratic age. Is there a future?

Who are the Independent Greeks?

Articles, Newspapers & Magazines

In November 2011, the decision of New Democracy MP for Athens B, Panos Kammenos, to vote against the government of Lucas Papademos in a vote of confidence resulted in his expulsion from ND’s parliamentary group. Three months later, on 24 February 2012, on his personal social networking accounts, on Facebook and Twitter, Kammenos announced the founding of a new party.

Snapshot of Golden Dawn

Articles, Newspapers & Magazines

Emergence and stabilization of the far-right phenomenon

The electoral emergence and consolidation of Golden Dawn (XA) in the party system in the era of the Memorandum took place in two phases: a) during the period February-May 2012 and b) after the elections. Up to January 2012, the party’s voter support had been non-existent.Then, the enactment of the second Memorandum triggered rapid changes on the political scene. The country’s political system embarked on a period of radical reconstruction.

The Communist Party of Greece in the age of the Memorandum

Articles, Newspapers & Magazines

Defeat and standstill The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) does not figure among the political forces that have been strengthened during the turbulent four years of the Memorandum. Having consolidated its position during the 2004-2007 election cycle, thanks to the gradual waning of PASOK, its fortunes again declined at the beginning of the crisis, due to the sudden collapse of New Democracy and the unexpected rebound of George Papandreou in elections in 2009. KKE’s electoral strength fell from 8.2% in parliamentary elections in 2007, to 7.5%, with a loss of 67,000 votes.

The rise and fall of Democratic Left

Articles, Newspapers & Magazines

The government crisis caused by the closure of state broadcaster ERT resulted in the withdrawal of Democratic Left (DIMAR) and an inglorious end to the three-party coalition. This development reopens the question concerning the outlook for the ‘Center-Left’. In elections in 2012, this portion of the party spectrum was mainly represented by two party formations, the remnants of PASOK and DIMAR, whose ideological and political positions to a great extent overlap. In aggregate, the two parties polled 18.5% in the June elections, over 1 million (1,141,000) votes. They thus constituted a strong bulwark against the rapid advance of the Left, which today has become destabilized.

The PASOK party of Evangelos Venizelos

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Tracking the ongoing post-election decline

In parliamentary elections in 2012, voter disapproval of both government parties was unprecedented. PASOK was punished more severely for Greece’s recourse to the IMF and the signing of the first Memorandum, two years earlier. The party was crushed at the polls, receiving just 13.2% (833,527 votes) and even less in repeat elections in June (755,868, 12.3%). The first percentage was even lower than what the party had polled when it first appeared on the Greek political scene in 1974 (13.4%).

Where is SYRIZA headed?

Articles, Newspapers & Magazines

Electoral emergence and momentum of the new party of the Left

Since last June, a new party of the Left has been representing over ¼ of the electorate, after increasing its voter support fivefold in less than three years (from 4.6% or 316,000 votes in October 2009). The significant electoral defeat eventually suffered by the party does not alter the fact that it has undergone a spectacular political transformation.