Greek Opposition Party Syriza’s Lead Narrows, Poll Shows
Introduction — Jan 6, 2015
The Wall Street Journal makes a crucial omission in the following report. Whether through plain oversight or deliberate disingenuousness, the WSJ fails to mention who is funding Syriza.
According to pravoslavia.ru, the party’s foremost financial backer is none other than arch capitalist and billionaire George Soros.
The German publication Wirtschaftswoche, reports that the American financier helped arrange the visit of Syriza’s left-wing coalition leader Alexis Cipras to the USA, during which the Greek politician became acquainted with influential representatives of America’s political “establishment”. Reportedly they gave him the “go ahead” to “rule” Greece.
Whilst the election has yet to take place, the U.S. establishment’s approval for Alex Cipras means he’s a strong contender. It’s worth noting moreover, that the WSJ expects readers to pay for the following article, even though it amounts to little more than disininformation. Ed.
Greek Opposition Party Syriza’s Lead Narrows, Poll Shows
Alkman Granitsas — Wall Street Journal Jan 4, 2015
Greek leftist opposition party Syriza continues to lead in public opinion polls just weeks ahead of national elections, a new poll showed Sunday, though its lead over the ruling New Democracy party has narrowed slightly.
According to the poll, conducted by the Rass polling agency and published Sunday in the Eleftheros Typos newspaper, 30.4% of those surveyed said they would vote for Syriza, up from 27.1% in mid-December. That places Syriza 3.1 percentage points ahead of the ruling conservatives, from 3.4 percentage points in a previous poll.
Greece’s coalition government—comprising New Democracy and its junior partner, the socialist Pasok party—faces snap elections on Jan. 25 after the Greek parliament failed last month to elect a new head of state. The government has positioned the elections as a de facto referendum on Greece’s future in the eurozone, saying Syriza’s policies would risk rupturing relations with eurozone partners, which have pledged €240 billion ($288 billion) in aid to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt burden.
Syriza rejects the criticism, but it has demanded debt relief from the eurozone and promised to roll back many of the austerity and reform measures Greece has undertaken in exchange for the aid. In last month’s parliamentary vote, Syriza blocked the government’s presidential candidate to force early elections 18 months ahead of schedule. The poll also shows 74% want to remain in the eurozone at whatever cost, and 55% feel unease over the prospect of early elections.
Since then, however, Syriza’s lead over New Democracy has narrowed.