Greek leftists ally with right against bailout after huge election win

FE Team | Published: January 27, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

GREEK, Jan 26 (agencies): The far-left Syriza party, which won Greece's general election on Sunday, has formed an anti-austerity governing coalition with the right-wing party Greek Independents.
The coalition will have a comfortable majority in Greece's new parliament.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has vowed to renegotiate Greece's bailout, worth €240bn (£179bn; $268bn), to end Greece's "humiliation and pain".
Several European politicians have warned him to respect bailout terms.
The BBC's full coverage of the reaction can be found here.
The euro recovered from an 11-year low against the US dollar as investors digested what Syriza's victory means for the eurozone's future.
Europe's main share markets also rose - after initial falls - on hopes that a compromise over Greece's bailout terms might be found.
With nearly all of the votes counted in Sunday's poll, Syriza looks set to have 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority. The Greek Independents are projected to have 13 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras on Monday agreed to team up with a right-wing party to form a new hardline, anti-bailout government determined to face down international lenders and end nearly five years of tough economic measures.
The decisive victory by Tsipras' Syriza in Sunday's snap election reignites fears of new financial troubles in the country that set off the regional crisis in 2009. It is also the first time a member of the 19-nation euro zone will be led by parties rejecting German-backed austerity.
Tsipras' resounding victory is likely to empower Europe's fringe parties, including other anti-austerity movements across the region's economically-depressed southern rim. The trouncing of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras represents a defeat of Europe's middle-ground political guard, which has dallied on a growth-versus-budget discipline debate for five years while voters suffered.
Within hours of victory on a campaign of "Hope is coming!", the 40-year-old Tsipras sealed a coalition deal with the small Independent Greeks party which also opposes Greece's EU/IMF aid program.