Editorial: Elections were the only option

The results of the 26 May European Parliament and local elections can only be described as a thrashing for the government.

The outcome was a clear condemnation and denunciation that leaves little room for interpretation.The message of the European Parliament election must be interpreted as a demand for an early general election.

It is a message and demand that the prime minister could not have ignored, as much as he tried to spin and prettify his devastating defeat.

Calling a general election was the only option. The government was obliged to respect the verdict of the people and immediately call parliamentary elections, thus opening a new electoral cycle.

Government policy was condemned and the four months remaining for the government to complete its four year term in office are not sufficient to reverse the current of disapproval that has become entrenched in Greek society.

On the other hand, it would be wrong for the winner of the election, New Democracy, to interpret citizens’ disapproval of SYRIZA solely as approval of ND.

The decimation of the ruling party cannot be intrerpreted as a huge victory for the main opposition party.

Yesterday’s elections proved that the centre-left has endured as an autonomous part of the political spectrum and SYRIZA was defeated in that regard as well.

Its effort to pillage the base of the centre-left failed as Movement for Change voters were not persuaded by the “bridge-makers” who hastened without their supporty to back the government.