Greeks 'feel nothing will change’ after the election
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Version 0 of 1. In a mood of resignation, most Greeks put on their Sunday best and trudged to the polling stations to vote in a new government for the fifth time in six years. But quite a lot didn’t bother. At an old primary school in the crowded working-class district of Agios Panteleimonas, an official checking the ballots admitted: “Greeks are quite bored about the election – they feel nothing will change.” In the most densely populated constituency in Athens, where people live very close to the polling station, “We’ll only have 250 by the end of the day … Five hundred people voted here in January.” Athens tends to be quiet on polling days, when hundreds of thousands return to their ancestral villages to vote. But this time, in the city centre the calm was glacial. Further north in Kypseli, another gritty neighbourhood which is home to former prime minister Alexis Tsipras and the headquarters of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, voting was brisker. “Last time abstentions were 20 to 25 per cent and we think it will be the same today,” a Syriza official said. “Most people realise how important it is to vote.” Two young men agreed. Marcus Santorinous, a 26-year-old welder had just returned from working in Cyprus and was hoping to find a job in the Netherlands. “I want young people to have good salaries, old people to have good pensions,” he said. “I don’t want to live in a country where young people are paid €300 [£220] a month.” He said he had voted for the Syriza breakaway outfit, Popular Unity – committed to taking Greece out of the eurozone. His friend, Stavros Anagnosleos, a student, said he remained loyal to Syriza, despite the chaos over the referendum in July. “I don’t want the old parties; they destroyed the country, they are dangerous – and they will do what the Germans tell them to do.” But some were frank about the hopelessness of Greece’s situation. “Clearly the election won’t solve any of the problems,” said Stathis Sachinides, a Communist Party candidate in Kypseli. “Brussels is using blackmail, saying vote for the bailout or you will be out of the EU. But with 1.5 million unemployed, many people are so poor it doesn’t matter to them whether Greece is in or out.” |