Handsome and photogenic Alexis Tsipras can teach Anura Kumara a lesson or two on strategy
by Kumar David-January 31, 2015
Leftist Syriza led by charismatic Alexis Tsipraz won 149 seats in the Greek parliamentary elections of 25 January falling two short of an absolute majority in the 300-member parliament needed to govern without the burden of an encumbering coalition. In 2012 Syriza took 27% of the vote to emerge as the second largest party, last week it won 37% and came first. It got 3.3% in 2004 and 5.4% in 2007. Two hundred and fifty parliamentary seats are distributed proportionally, but 50 extra seats are allocated to the party that obtains the largest number of votes (plurality). This bonus system makes for stable government since, to the best of my knowledge, a single party has never secured 50% in Greece. The New Democracy party which was pushed out of office secured 76 seats, semi-fascist Golden Dawn 17, the CP 15, Social Democrats 13, and the liberal Independent Greeks 13.
