euroelections

[jmage at panix.com]

The European parliamentary elections are worth a moment's attention, in
largest part for the pleasure to be taken in the strong repudiation - by
way of the abstention of much of their working class voters - of the
Blair-Schroeder socialwarmongering third-way vomit. Despite the ubiquitous
and continuing war propaganda the anti-war anti-Maastricht left (i.e., the
Left) did pretty well in northern europe: the PDS in Germany and the Dutch
Socialists both got into the EuroParliament for the first time, and the
Swedish Left party (with 15.8% of the vote) had more than half the vote of
the Social Democrats for the first time ever. The Greek Left also did well,
explicitly as a result of opposition to the war against Yugoslavia
according to the Financial Times, though Greek anti-Maastricht opinion is
strong (and of course anathema to the FT).

john mage

Financial Times  Tuesday June 15

	GREECE: Small leftwing parties gain

                    Greece's small, leftwing parties made the biggest gains
at the European election as voters demonstrated their opposition to the
governing
Socialists' pro-western stance in the war against Yugoslavia, writes Kerin
Hope in Athens

                    Greece's unreconstructed Communist party, which led the
campaign against Nato's air strikes, made a strong showing, capturing 8.5
per cent ofthe vote. Aleka Paparriga, the Communist leader, said: "We have
been
vindicated. The governing party has suffered because of its provocative
policies."

                    Dikki, a leftwing splinter group, led by a former
Socialist finance minister, won 6.9 per cent of the vote in its first
appearance at the Europeanelection. The ex-communist Left Coalition won 5
per cent, giving the three leftwing parties a total of seven seats in the
European parliament.

                    The protest vote pushed the government's Panhellenic
Socialist Movement into second place with 32.9 per cent, behind the
right-of-centre New Democracy party with 36.3 per cent. But each party will
send nine deputies to Strasbourg.

                    Costas Simitis, prime minister, brushed aside the
Socialists' defeat as "acceptable wear and tear". He said the government's
tight fiscal policies would remain in place as Greece intensifies the
effort to qualify this year for membership of the euro.

                    The Liberals, a new political party founded by Stefanos
Manos, a former conservative finance minister, won more than 3 per cent of
the vote in Athens but failed to pick up enough votes elsewhere to secure a
seat.

                    Turnout, at 70.1 per cent, was lower than the average
in Greece, where voting patterns still reflect a tradition of obligatory
voting. Analysts said fewer city residents than usual made the journey to
vote.