Despite High Stakes, Greek Election Generates Little Fervor

NY Times ^ | SEPT. 16, 2015 | SUZANNE DALEY

[TroutStalker]

ATHENS — Inside campaign tents pitched by various political parties seeking to win over Greek voters here, including an immense one set up near Korai Square by the leftist Syriza party of the former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the chairs and tables were empty the other day.

The leaflets sat untouched in neat stacks, a sharp contrast to the days before Greece’s last election, in January, when noisy crowds milled late into the night, debating policy and their country’s future.

With new elections scheduled for Sunday and Greece’s relations with its European partners in a fragile state, this debt-ridden country has much on the line. The next prime minister will have to navigate the tricky politics of the European Union at a time when some European leaders have made clear that their patience for keeping Greece in the eurozone is running out.

The winner will inherit the responsibility of generating sustained economic improvement after years of near Depression-like conditions and of helping manage the unceasing flow of migrants through southern Europe.

But such stakes have hardly translated into election fervor. After months of turbulence, cliff-edge negotiations, a referendum and bank closures, many Greeks appear exhausted by the prospect of going to the polls for the fourth time in three years — their enthusiasm for the boyishly handsome Mr. Tsipras, 41, and his promises of change much diminished as they contemplate the future.

Mr. Tsipras was elected eight months ago as a leftist promising to stare down the country’s creditors and convince them that the austerity policies they had forced upon Greece had been counterproductive. Today, however, he is asking Greeks to re-elect him to implement a deal that would impose yet a new round of budget cuts and other unsettling policy changes

[JMS]

What’s he going to do about the invasion of his country?

[KarlInOhio]

Consider how meaningful their last vote was, I’m not surprised they don’t have election fever.

[jim_trent]

I know that it is commonplace for politicians to do an about-face after their election and do the opposite of what they “promised”. However, has any politician done a reversal as quickly as this guy did?