Elections 2023: Greece … Sierra Leone
It’s the incumbent and ‘New Democracy’ for five more years in Greece, the cradle of Pericles and democracy, which swings sharply to the right…. Sierra Leone, sadly, braces for much of the same.
Continuing our pledge at Andelman Unleashed to report and comment on every national election everywhere in the world, voters in Greece and Sierra Leone elect their rulers in challenging times.
Greece: Five more years
“When the Right and the Extreme Right advance, the forces of the Republic must organize their resistance."
That was the conclusion of Alex Tsipras, the former prime minister and leader of the center-left Syriza Party, which came in a distant second in Sunday’s elections. As the Athens daily Η Αυγή (“The Dawn") reported Monday morning, Tsipras “sounded the alarm about the emergence of three far-right parties in Parliament, one of which has fascist extensions and connections. He assessed that the result of the elections, as reflected in yesterday's ballot on June 25, is primarily negative for Democracy and society…. [Tsipras] pointed out that never in the post-colonial years, from 1974 until today, have such negative correlations been recorded for the progressive space.
The big winner was the incumbent prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and his New Democracy party, overwhelming the nine other parties that contested Sunday’s vote.
Mitsotakis had beaten Tsipras and Syriza in May, but hoping for a unilateral majority in parliament and a chance to rule singlehandedly, without any challenge from another party or any partner in a coalition, called for a second ballot that took place yesterday. The last time, he missed that goal by five seats in the 300-nation parliament. This time leaving nothing to chance, he succeeded—winning 40.5% of the vote, nearly 23 point ahead of Tsipras. More tellingly with the addition of 50 bonus seats in parliament for coming in first, he will have 158 seats, compared with Syriza’s second-place 48. Perhaps even more telling was the result of the far-right, neo-fascist Spartan party, which will join parliament for the first time with 12 seats, having won none in the May vote.
The stunning surprise by Spartans was due in no small measure to the endorsement from his prison cell by Ilias Kasidiaris, jailed former MP of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, effectively banned from politics after being branded a criminal organization. Kasidiaris bears a tattoo of a swastika, which he describes as an ancient Greek symbol, and is a devoted supporter of Vladimir Putin. At least two other, far-right populist parties also managed to find their way into parliament, giving them a newly-potent voice for their extremist views across a range of issues that resonate as well in a growing number of European countries. Next up, in July, will be Spain, then Poland in October before next year’s vote across the EU for the European Parliament.
All of this is taking place of course in Greece, birthplace of the very concept of democracy and the nation that was the bedrock of such concepts of governance dating back to the time of Pericles, five centuries before the Common Era, proclaimed by Thucydides as "the first citizen of Athens.” The Greek historian quoted Pericles declaiming: "Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy.”
Yet it was this very constitution, rewritten by a modern Greek parliament with a view to maintaining the right-wing in power, that enabled New Democracy’s victory this weekend. New Democracy, with its overwhelming showing, snagged all 50 ‘bonus seats,’ allowed in the new constitution, catapulting it past the 151 needed for an absolute majority.
A host of issues have moved Greece so far to the right so quickly, giving Greece its most conservative government since the restoration of democracy by a ruling military junta in 1974. A rocky economy has led international credit agencies to maintain Greece in sub-investment grade status, which is expected to be reversed by a “Recovery and Resilience Plan,” growing the economy more than 2% this year and slashing inflation from 9.3% last year to 2.4% next year, while at the same time growing jobs and trimming an unemployment level that still hovers around 12%. Mitsotakis has pledged to slash paralyzing red tape that has hampered growth and lure back Greeks who emigrated during the years of spiraling deficits, taking the government to the brink of bankruptcy.
Worries over unchecked immigration from Pakistan, the Middle East, and Africa came to a head in t week before Sunday’s vote when a fishing trawler packed with as many as 700 migrants bound from North Africa lost power, drifted into Greek waters, and sank, sending hundreds to their death as the Greek Coast Guard, by most accounts did little but stand by and watch. Mitsotakis has pledge to find a solution to the migrants problem.
Unlike other right-wing leaders in Europe, however, Mitsotakis has not sided with Putin in the war in Ukraine. Last September, as the EU was ramping up sanctions against Russia, the prime minister urged that Europe have a coordinated response to Putin, describing the Ukraine invasion as a means to “legitimize a despotic authoritarianism and enable any local troublemaker” to do the same.
Sierra Leone: All over but the shooting
Quite literally. Voters went to the polls on Saturday. Then, on Sunday the leading opposition party, whose leaders had gathered to assess their loss, accused the military of surrounding their headquarters then firing tear gas and live rounds into the building in Freetown, the nation’s capital. At least one woman was wounded and without a pulse, according to a Reuters reporter on the scene.
The reality is that on Monday, votes were still being counted in this west African nation barely larger than West Virginia with 8.5 million people and the population density of Ohio. Although 13 candidates were competing for the presidency, there are only two real contenders—the incumbent Julius Maada Bio from the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and Samura Matthew Kamara from the All People’s Congress (APC). These political groups have been the two principal contestants since Sierra Leone won its independence from Britain in 1961.
The Freetown newspaper Concord Times reported:
“President Bio, under the banner of the ‘People’s Manifesto,’ seeks to build upon the achievements of his administration, particularly in the areas of food security, human capital development, youth and women empowerment, public service, and technological advancement. Samura Matthew Kamara, on the other hand, presents his ‘One Nation’ manifesto, which focuses on fostering national unity, addressing economic challenges, and promoting sustainable development through a ten-pillar approach….President Bio argues that the journey towards economic progress has already begun and should not be disrupted by an unreliable opposition. Samura Kamara, meanwhile, asserts that his expertise as an economist uniquely positions him to tackle the nation’s challenges effectively.”
President Bio (left), challenger Kamara (right)
At least four groups of international observers have been monitoring the election and tabulation. The former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, and former vice president of Nigeria, Yemi Obasanjo, is each heading a separate team of monitors.
Five years ago, Bio defeated Samura 51.8% to 48.2% in a second-round runoff. This time, the local SierraPoll projected Bio receiving 56% of the vote in the first round against 13 candidates, with Samura at 43%. A minimum of 55% of the vote is necessary to avoid a runoff between the top two. Concord Times reports that “APC [Samura’s party] called the poll a ‘sham’ and accused it of being sympathetic to the SLPP [of Bio].”
The reality is that Sierra Leone is in the grip of a crippling economic crisis with consumer prices in April running 52.3% higher than a year earlier according to the BBC/Pidgin service—the highest ever recorded in the country. At the same time, its currency has collapsed. And the nation’s per capita income of $415 places it as the world’s second poorest, after only the east African nation of Burundi. And neither party really seems to have any real answer.
Andelman Unleashed will update here with the final returns when they become available. Stay tuned.
It's very sad that even after the refugee boat sank, the Greek people did not rethink their support of the xenophobic New Democracy and Spartan far-right, extremist parties! The Greek Coast Guard just standing by and watching 700-plus refugees drown to death can only be the result of implicit government approval of their (non)action?
Thanks, Matěj !
You are so very right .... sadly that is the plight of refugees these days (perhaps always....though more than 100 years ago, my grandparents were refugees !!)