SYRIZA scores first election win but coalition stands firm after EU vote

SYRIZA gained the first electoral victory in its history on Sunday as it came first in the European Parliament vote but failed to establish a big enough gap over the coalition, for which PASOK performed better than expected, to suggest that the government’s stability is in question.

The opposition party was projected to receive 26.7 percent of the vote, which is almost identical to the percentage it received in the 2012 general elections. New Democracy was expected to get 22.8 percent and the Elia (Olive Tree) alliance, led by PASOK, 8.1 percent. Although this would only secure the center-left grouping fourth place, it had been expected to perform slightly worse in terms of its percentage.

A stronger performance by Elia meant that the coalition’s combined support was comfortably above SYRIZA, whose officials had suggested during the campaign that a large margin of victory over New Democracy or a low aggregate vote for the two governing parties would give the leftists license to call for snap elections.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said the result left no room for SYRIZA to claim that it could “overthrow” the government.

“There is no issue of early elections,” he said.

The SYRIZA camp, however, took heart from what was a historic win for the party and insisted that the result of the European elections confirmed that the leftists are on course to lead the next government. “The map of [Greece’s] political forces, as we knew it over the past decades, has changed,” said SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis, who questioned whether New Democracy and PASOK had a mandate to handle issues of national importance.

“This government cannot handle the negotiations regarding debt relief, an issue that will affect Greece for the...