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POPULIST Greek election winner Syriza struck a deal with the right-wing Independent Greeks party today.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in today, comfortable in the support of the right-wing party — which has attracted the tag of “Greece’s answer to Ukip” by some commentators.
The right-wing party said it would back the Mr Tsipras as next prime minister after he fell just two MPs short of an overall majority after Syriza received its 50-seat top up for winning the most votes.
The alliance between the two parties — which share nothing except a dislike of bailout loans — spooked markets and triggered a loss of 4 per cent on the Athens Stock Exchange.
Syriza has won 149 seats in the 300-member parliament with 36.3 per cent of the vote.
However, the neofascist Golden Dawn party vote fell slightly to 6.28 per cent.
The communist KKE improved its showing, lifting its number of seats from 13 to 15.
General secretary Dimitris Koutsoumpas said the results “reflect the great discontent and anger of the people against New Democracy and Pasok, the parties that plunged the people into poverty and unemployment.”
Former governing party Pasok in particular saw its vote collapse to 4.68 per cent.
Syriza spokesman Giorgos Stathakis said today that the new government had no plans to meet Troika negotiators and would instead seek direct talks with governments.
In his victory speech Mr Tsipras? told supporters Greece “leaves behind catastrophic austerity, fear, authoritarianism and five years of humiliation and anguish.”
He added: “The verdict of our people means the Troika is finished.”
But Mr Koutsoumpas said that Syriza’s actual positions and policies suggested the new government would “follow the beaten track — the EU one-way street, the commitments to big capital, monopolies, the EU and Nato.
“Once again the people will pay the price for these choices.”
And Germany made it clear that there’d be no easy renegotiation.
“The commitments Greece has made need to be kept,” insisted Angela Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert.
