SYRIZA wins: 'Greece is leaving behind austerity and pain'

“Greece is leaving behind the destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism. It is leaving behind five years of humiliation and pain,” SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras told a joyous crowd of flag-waving supporters after the radical left party won a large victory in the January 25 elections. You can follow all the news and updates at Green Left's live blog.

Tsipras told the crowd: “The sovereign Greek people today have given a clear, strong, indisputable mandate. Greece has turned a page.

“The verdict of the Greek people ends, beyond any doubt, the vicious circle of austerity in our country.

“The verdict of the Greek people, your verdict, annuls today in an indisputable fashion the bailout agreements of austerity and disaster.

“The verdict of the Greek people renders the troika a thing of the past for our common European framework.”

With more than three quarters of the vote counted, it appears SYRIZA is on target to win 149 out of 300 seats -- just short of an outright majority.

SYRIZA campaigned on a platform of ending the austerity that has lead to a dramatic cut to the income of most Greek people, and greater unemployment, homelessness and suicides.

As well as immediate measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and reverse austerity, SYRIZA is seeking a debt conference to renegotiate Greece's debt with the aim of wiping a large portion of it off, and having payments for hte remainder linked to economic growth.

You can read SYRIZA's 40 point platform here.

[Follow Green Left's live blog here. Follow all of Green Left's coverage direct from Athens here.]
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From GLW issue 1038