GREECE: THE VOTE IN PARLIAMENT ON THE MEMORANDUM
43 Syriza MP’s vote « no » or « present »
The result of the early morning vote on the Memorandum was a slap in the face of Alexis Tsipras and his government. Of course, the Memorandum was approved, thanks to the support of New Democracy, Pasok and Potami, with 222 votes out of 300. But 43 Syriza MPs refused to support the government (32 « no » and 11 « present »), a figure higher than in any other previous vote. The « no » vote regrouped the MPs of the Left Platform, the four MPs of KOE, Zoe Kostantopoulou and her close collaborator Rachel Makri, former finance vice-minister Nadia Valavani, Vangelis Diamatopoulos (an MP close to the « anti-authoritarian » milieu) and Yanis Varoufakis. The « present » vote came essentially from MPs of the 53+ tendency, the left wing of the « majority » bloc.
The speech of Alexis Tsipras was particularly defeatist and incoherent. The result of the vote forced him to postpone the decision to call for snap elections. The newly invented manœuvre will be to ask for a vote of confidence in Parliament, after August 20, to put in a difficult position the No camp within Syriza.
The widely shared impression is that Syriza is purely and simply disintegrating at record speed as a party. The Moloch of the Memoranda is devouring a new victim.
Stathis Kouvelakis