Greeks Watch Nat'l Elections

Members of the Harvard Greek community closely watched this week's national elections in Greece, in which Andreas Papandreou, the former Prime Minister of Greece and leader of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), regained his seat in a victory over Constantine Mitsotakis and the New Democracy Party.

PASOK gained 46.9 percent of the vote and secured 171 of the 300-seat parliament, according to The Associated Press.

The New Democracy party had its worst showing in 12 years, gaining only 38.6 percent of the vote and 110 seats.

Mitsotakis had hoped for at least 120 seats so the New Democracy party could block PASOK's absolute majority in parliament.

Members of Harvard's Greek community said this week that the results were not surprising.

"I thought it was the expected result," said Evangelos Calotychos, preceptor in modern Greek at Harvard.

"Either way there was going to be a tough time ahead and I thought a certain sect of the Greek society were suffering from the austerity measures so they turned to PASO," Calotychos said.

Professor of Modern Greek Studies Maraget Alexiou agreed with Calotychos and said she approved of the change. "I think that the austerity measures will be ended and that will be good," she said.

Undergraduate Council Chair Michael P. Beys '94, however, was not supportive of PASOK's victory. "From my studies of international political economy, I've come to realize that Greece is not easily going to be able to keep up with the European nations without a fiercely capitalist economy."

The Greek Communist party also received roughly four percent of the vote, according to Greek television and radio newscasts and gained about 9 seats in parliament.

The Coalition of the Left, however, was not able to get a single member into parliament.

In addition, the newly created right-wing Political Spring party, led by Adonis Samaras, a graduate of Harvard Business School, earned roughly four percent of the vote and nine seats, according to Greek television and radio broadcasts.

Samaras seceded from the New Democracy Party and formed his own right-wing coalition this summer in response to conflicts within the New Democracy Party.

The New Democracy Party had lost popularity in recent months because it implemented measures of austerity which increased prices and reduced social benefits.

The presence of the Political Spring cost the New Democracy party several seats in parliament, which could have prevented an absolute majority by PASOK.