German Media Eyes Greek Elections

As Deutsche Welle notes, there are those that see results as a victory for SYRIZA, like Austrian Die Presse, but there are also those like German Handelsblatt that notes “Samaras wins in regions.”

Generally though, the idea is of a race that will be judged at the finish line, as says an article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, that states that on the one hand SYRIZA scored a victory in Athens and around the capital, but also notes that on the other, the governing coalition parties managed to secure their place in the regions. The paper also notes that initial predictions that saw SYRIZA win a clear-cut victory in yesterday's ballot were not confirmed.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also underscores that these elections were a foretaste for upcoming European parliament and a test for the conservative socialist coalition government with analysts believing that next Sunday the race will be neck-to-neck. In the event of a SYRIZA victory in the elections, the German paper says, the main opposition will ask for snap national elections.

According to Die Welt, the first round of local elections does not leave any margins to conduct a safe analysis, and calls results marginal. Die Welt notes that SYRIZA is marginally ahead in the Attica region as of Monday morning with 30% of votes counted, while in Athens “the until recently social-democratic PASOK, renamed Elia” is ahead.