ITS THE COME BACK COMMIES...KKE GAINS IN GREECE...

Congratulations to the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) for demonstrating that a consistent class analysis of the problems facing a modern society can, and evidently does, result in an increase in the mandate which can be achieved by serious Left parties. Both the Communist Party and the Coalition of Radical Left look like they are going to gain seats. At this point , it looks the final outcome will be like this, ( 99.37 % of the votes counted):ND (conservatives): 152 seats 41.84 % Pasok (socio-dem) : 102 seats 38.11 % KKE : 22 seats 8.15 %Coalition of the radical left: 14 seats 5.03 % Extreme Right (LAOS) : 10 seats 3.79 % . This KKE result is the continuation of a trend dating back to previous elections,In the Parliamentary Elections of 2004 KKE rose in its share of the vote (from 5,5% in 2000 to 5,9% in 2004), in the number of votes received and MPs elected (12 MPs compared to 11 in 2000). This positive result took place despite the intence polarization among the two big establishment parties, (the rightwing ND and the social democratic PASOK) and the inevitably negative role of the right wing dominsted media.

Its a pity that the ND have got back into power , but the KKE's strong showing suggests that this is not a crisis of the Left, more a crisis for ostensibly socialist parties who shift into the centre too readily forgetting what they were established to stand for in the first place. One curious snippet is that the far-right party's (LAOS) leader, according to a claim made in Wikipedia has "pictures of Fidel Castro and CheGuevara in his office as "anti-American symbols" , presumably this particular fruit cake can move his pictures to his parliamentary office now, since he has been elected to parliament for the first time. He campaigned during the election brandishing a boxing glove, suggesting that the people of Greece must form 'one fist', he was also supported by a scantily clad female Greek celebrity.These are not harmless eccentrics however, the LAOS have been credibly accused of harbouring some deeply unpleasant anti-semitic tendencies.

If you are one of the multitude of new readers who have visited us here recently then welcome back, we are prone to 'loony left' behaviour here quite frequently, sorry if it offends,we really did try to give it up, but you can only get marginally excited by lives revolving around the likes of gardening and the peculiarly vacuous sense of ennui and purposeless drifting from taking too seriously terribly clever people who informed us all that we had reached the 'end of history' ...
There is a video on YouTube which appears to support the KKE election campaign, whether or not it is an official effort is unclear, sadly my Greek is too weak to be able to determine this information for certain, on reflection however simply because the images are striking and the accompanying songs sounds pretty good its going to appear below, some particularly unrepentant 'unrepentants' will be intrigued by the closing shots, which will warm the heart of some of you (perhaps).

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Aleka Papariga said her party's supporters "feel satisfaction" over the KKE's performance in Sunday's general election. Addressing reporters in the early morning hours of Monday, Papariga said her party was on an upward course, adding that voters who "made a bold step in voting for the first time for KKE were many", while adding that Communists should not be carried away by the result. "The two mainstream parties still maintain high percentages, which however, are not in accordance with the levels of popular dissatisfaction," she said. The KKE leader said her party would be on the workers' side to "prevent the anti-popular measures that this government will present," adding that KKE would not disappoint young voters. Well Aleka you have'nt disappointed this voter, keep that up and a good few readers here will begin to feel younger to boot!