Greeks went to the polls today in their second election in two months, and appear to have finally got themselves a government. The bad news is that it is a right-wing quisling one, dedicated to imposing austerity on ordinary Greeks for the profit of foreign bankers. The good news is that they are going to have a very difficult time doing that.
Current results show the pro-austerity parties with 162 seats between them in the 300-seat Parliament. In Greek terms, this "majority" is wafer thin, and will evaporate through defection and rebellion the moment the government tries to impose any serious pain (exactly as happened last term). And there's no-one else for New Democracy and PASOK to turn to - every other party in the Parliament is opposed to austerity.
In short, its the sort of government Greeks know how to roll - and I expect that to happen within a year or two (and quicker if it tries to impose serious pain).
Looking at the longer term, SYRIZA - the Coalition of the Radical left - has eaten PASOK for breakfast, and has now become the default left-wing party. They're younger and far more radical than PASOK, which means Greece's next left-wing government is going to be very interesting indeed.
