April 25, 2024

IHT Rendezvous: Ask About the Greek Elections

Greeks will return to the polls on Sunday, June 17, amid growing doubts about the euro’s viability in its current form, worries that Greece won’t be able pay its bills next month, and rising speculation about how the country would go about leaving the euro and starting to print its own currency.

As one politician put it in a television debate between extreme right and left politicians that dissolved into a physical altercation on Thursday, Greece is facing more than an economic crisis, it is facing “a crisis of democracy.” (Ilias Kasidiaris of the far-right Golden Dawn party, who threw water at and slapped his opponents is reportedly being sought by police.)

Last month’s election brought Mr. Kasidiaris and other extreme politicians into Parliament, but ended in a stalemate when no party was able to form a government. Politicians on the extremes who opposed the terms of Greece’s €130 bailout won more votes than the center-right and center-left parties that have dominated Greek politics for decades and had back the deal.

As the world waits to see how Greek votes, in an election that has been called a referendum on Greece remaining in the euro, what do you want to know about Greece and the vote?

Leave your questions in the comments area below and Niki Kitsantonis will answer them in a future post on Rendezvous.

Article source: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/ask-about-the-greek-elections/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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