The Greek parliament has, for the third time in a row, failed to get a decisive outcome in the election of the president of state. By Greek law, this automatically leads to new parliamentary elections, to be held in the course of the coming two months.
The most important parties in the Greek political system right now are as followed:
Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left):
Led by Alexis Tsipras. A 3 % party some 5 years ago, they saw a dramatic rise since the breakout of the Greek economical crisis and the implementation of several austerity, privatization and deregulation measures by the Greek government, requested by the international Troika of Greece's , IMF, EU and ECB, and have become Greece's main opposition party. Their main platform consists of opposing the austerity policies, proposing several Keynesian stimulus policies on the European level instead, a liberal-progressive social agenda (introducing gay marriage and establish more secularization), keeping the Euro and more generous immigration policies. Currently leading the polls by a 3-5 % margin.
Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy):
The party of the current Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras and the conservative half of Greece's traditional two-party system, they took over the government from PASOK in 2012 and largely continued the cooperation with Troika demands and austerity policies, with various degrees of success. They argue that the reforms were painful, but necessary and that a sudden change of course could threaten to undo all the progress done in the last 3-4 years. Want to keep the Euro (duh), and continue to establish more law and order in regards to immigrants and crime.
PASOK (Panhellenic Socialist Movement):
The centre-left half of Greece's traditional two-party system. They were the strongest party in the 2009 elections, but due to the aforementioned austerity package they introduced one year later (being pretty much the opposite of everything they originally stood for) both the voter base and the party itself have eroded and are now little more than Nea Dimokratia's junior partner in the current coalition. Want to keep the Euro. Led by the current Greek foreign minister Evangelos Venizelos.
DIMAR (Democratic Left):
A centre-left, democratic Socialist party, its leader, Fotis Kouvelis, left Syriza for finding it too demagoguegic and populist. They are on the Left economically and socially, but keep a considerably lower, more pragmatic profile than Syriza over it. Were in coalition with New Democracy and PASOK for a while, which hurt them a lot in the polls. Also want to keep the Euro.
ANEL (Independent Greeks):
Led by Panos Kammenos, a New Democracy outcast who disagreed with Samaras over the latters continuation of PASOK's policies. Are nationalist/conservative socially, and pro-free market economically. Reject the austerity policies, want a decidedly pro-Russian foreign policy, and also want to lawsuit Germany for impending war reparations to Greece. Go by the moniker "Psekasmenoi" (Sprayed ones), because some of their members infamously brought up "chem trail" conspiracy theories as the reason why protests in Greece aren't as strong as they were 2 years ago. Want to stay in the Euro, arguing that the other countries can't do anything to take Greece's membership away.
Golden Dawn:
An unapologetic Neo Nazi party, their members are infamous for their racism, violent incidents, paramilitary activities - and yeah, all the Hitler-worshipping. Lately, they try to pose more as "nationalist patriots" and toned down the National Socialist leaning a bit (Altough, as former members report, nothing has changed in the inner circles). Are popular in areas with high crime and immigration, and with the Greek police. Anti-NATO and pro-Russian in their foreign-policy views. Want to abandon the Euro. Led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos.
KKE (Communist Party of Greece):
Led by Dimitris Koutsoumpas. Greece's oldest political party, often hailed (by both friend and foe) as the "last Stalinist party of Europe". Their agenda and slogans haven't changed much...in the past 90 years. Are in favor of a planned state socialist economy, abandoning NATO, EU and Eurozone, and develop close ties with Venezuela, Russia and North Korea (yes, really).
Potami (the river):
A pretty young party (less than a year old) by former star journalist and TV host Stavros Theodorakis, they were founded as a centre-left party with explicitedly no ties to the old political system (you can't become a member of the party if you used to have an important position in one of the other parties). Socially liberal. Want to renegotiate with the EU for a less harsh economic policy, and do more for active citizen participation in the political process. Want to keep the Euro. Due to their similarities to Syriza, they are accused by some to be a late-game ploy by the old political elites (i.e. PASOK) to draw critical voter support away from Tsipras.
EDIT:
I'm personally undecided between Syriza and Potami. While Tsipras has some pretty unrealistic points (especially what he claims to be able to achieve on an European level), he does have some good points on Greece's interior policies. But more importantly, it is time for both PASOK and New Democracy to leave the government and to reduce the influence of their various financial backers (big businessmen, oligarchs, media tycoons) on the country.
