News Analysis: Greek voters hand Leftists second chance to rule, thorny path ahead

Greece's Radical Left SYRIZA party was given on Sunday by voters a second chance in eight months to rule and resolve the debt crisis that brought the country to the brink of collapse.

Despite the turbulence of his first term in office that included an unprecedented introduction of capital controls which are still in force burdening an already ailing economy, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proved "too hard to die" as he told his cheering supporters on Sunday night.

The 41-year old Leftist leader won the wager he had placed in late August when he resigned to force the snap polls.

In response to a party mutiny by SYRIZA hardliners who opposed the third bailout he sealed in July as the only way to avert default and Grexit, Tsipras sought a fresh mandate to form a stronger government.

Voters did not hand him the outright parliamentary majority he requested, but despite disappointment over his radical shift to the pro-bailout camp, they gave him the opportunity to renew the governing coalition with the Right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) party.

The political cost he paid was rather small compared to the expectations of pollsters and political analysts. Despite the acknowledgment of mistakes made, SYRIZA and the conservatives of the New Democracy party won about the same percentages as in the January 25 elections that brought the then anti-bailout Tsipras in power.

Voters' discontent with the parties which represent the old political system that led Greece to the current crisis, as he presented his opponents, beat disillusionment over SYRIZA's performance during the first term in office.

On Monday Tsipras was expected to formally receive the mandate to form a government from the President of the Hellenic Republic and be sworn in again.

Although the combined parliamentary majority of the SYRIZA- ANEL coalition has shrank to 155 seats from 162 in the previous assembly, he will no longer have to deal with the hardliners within SYRIZA who were voting down key draft bills containing bailout commitments.

The Popular Unity party formed by SYRIZA rebels was voted down on Sunday. It did not enter the new parliament. The only anti-bailout parties in the new assembly will be the Communist party KKE and the far-Right Golden Dawn. Jointly they control just 33 seats in the 300-member strong assembly.

All other opposition parties have already approved in parliament or supported in the pre election campaign the three year painful bailout as the only available option to exit the crisis.

In an unusual development for polarizing Greek politics the new government could count on the support also of the opposition in the key votes in the assembly in the future. The long-awaited cross party consensus that will ensure political stability needed to implement the bailout commitments emerged as the new component in Greece's political landscape.

Against this backdrop political analysts and media commentators in Athens stressed on Monday that now Tsipras and his new government will have a clear path and the responsibility of pushing through the reforms and harsh conditions of the 86 billion euro new package.

During the election campaign the Leftist leader vowed that his new government will give a new fight to soften the impact of the new wave of austerity through policies supporting the most vulnerable Greeks and through the debt relief he will negotiate with international creditors.

The only certainty at the moment is that the new administration will not have time to waste. The first review of the new austerity and reform program has been scheduled for October.

In order to unlock further vital international aid on Oct. 5, according to the current timetable, Athens needs to be ready to present the 2016 state budget and in parallel the framework for the recapitalization of the banking sector which should be completed by year end to erase any remaining possibilities of a "haircut" on deposits.

In October, the government must continue the reform of the pension system and finalize reforms in taxation.

"We are ready to meet the targets," former Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas assured on Monday while speaking to local media.

"The second opportunity cannot go to waste. The real economy cannot hold anymore," Vassilis Korkidis, the President of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE), commented.

In the best case scenario, according to political analysts and media commentators, a "more mature" Tsipras as he presents himself, will keep his word and with a heavy heart fulfill the commitments undertaken, implementing the reforms needed to kick start the economy and privatizations.

His critics on the other hand expressed concern that Greece may witness a replay of his first term in office, meaning a new marathon round of negotiations with lenders over amendments to the bailout or the debt relief that will further harm the economy and revive the default and Grexit scenarios.

Regardless of whether they voted for Tsipras or not, several Greek citizens on the streets of Athens on Monday shared the widespread point of view of experts and opposition leaders that "this may be SYRIZA's second chance, but may prove Greece's last opportunity." Enditem