Lack of faith
Some voters still believe the SYRIZA chief will be able to implement the deal he signed with the country’s creditors and push through reforms with less reaction than another government could hope for.
This approach ignores some basic facts, such as that neither Alexis Tsipras nor his key ministers appear to believe in the deal, the privatizations or the reforms envisages.
The elections were an opportunity for Tsipras to include a few moderate and esteemed candidates that do not belong to the party’s hard core. But he didn’t. Instead, he rewarded the hard core, which has not produced a single minister of any discernible skill.
Tsipras continues to straddle two camps. The drachma lobby left, but there are still plenty of party officials and lawmakers with extreme views who oppose the memorandum.
The dangers are obvious and the biggest is that if SYRIZA wins the elections, the country may find itself back on the brink of disaster, either because of the party’s inability to govern or because of continued rifts therein. After all, how could it implement an agreement it does not believe in?
