The Greek election is over. Alexis Tsipras and his leftist Syriza party “won” the election with 35% of the votes cast by 56% of the eligible voters in the country. To obtain a majority of the 300 seats in parliament Tsipras and his party have to form a coalition with the right-wing Independent Greeks party, whose leader opposes Greek citizenship for immigrants and children of immigrants born on Greek soil, the separation of church and state, taxes on the wealthy, and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, among many other things Syriza favors. Where he and his party share common ground with Syriza, though, is opposition to the austerity measures that the EU requires the Greek parliament to pass and implement to receive the bailout that Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy. Yes, that’s right: a leftist party gets power by sharing it with a right wing party so they can work together to pass and implement measures they both oppose bitterly. That’s the Greece of 2015 for you. An endlessly fascinating place.
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