The people of Greece have rejected the politics of austerity.
Over the weekend, the left-wing Syriza party took 36 percent of vote in national elections, beating the current governing center-right New Democracy party by 9 points. The win breaks the stranglehold of austerity on both Greek and European politics.
At a celebratory rally in Athens on Sunday, the 40-year-old leader of Syriza party, Alexis Tsipras, promised to revive the Greek economy and spoke to the rest of Europe.
"Greece will now move ahead with hope and reach out to Europe, and Europe is going to change," he said. "The verdict is clear: We will bring an end to the vicious circle of austerity."
The New York Times puts the win into perspective:
Syriza's victory is a milestone for Europe. Continuing economic weakness has stirred a populist backlash from France to Spain to Italy, with more voters growing fed up with policies that require sacrifice to meet the demands of creditors but that have not delivered more jobs and prosperity. Syriza is poised to become the first anti-austerity party to take power in a eurozone country and to shatter the two-party establishment that has dominated Greek politics for four decades.
