Leftist leader Alexis Tsipras addressed cheering supporters in central Athens as his easy election victory was sealed on Sunday evening, with his former and soon-to-be future coalition partner, right-wing political leader Panos Kammenos, joining him on stage.
Tsipras referred to a “big and clear victory, a victory of the people; we gave a major battle and the Greek people gave us a mandate to continue to fight.”
Tsipras referred to the phrase “clear mandate” and what he called a struggle against corruption, entangled interests and the establishment throughout his short address.
“The Greek people gave us a clear mandate to end what held us back and to move forward, to put forth the right of our people against ‘asymmetrical threats’,” as he said.
With a direct glance at the political landscape in Europe, he told supporters, in a nationally televised broadcast, that “Greece and the Greek people today are synonymous with struggle and dignity, and this is what we will do for four years, because this is a mandate for four years.”
In one memorable part of his address, he said “SYRIZA is too hard to die”.
He also thanked Kammenos for his support.
Here’s a portion of his address:
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.. this is a victory by the people… Today I feel vindicated, as the Greek people today gave us a clear mandate to continue to struggle, inside and outside the country… a clear mandate to do away with what held us glued to the past and to continue the good fight that we began seven months ago, a struggle to put forth the right of our people against ‘asymmetrical forces’, against enemies with greater power than us. But we succeeded, the Greek flag flies today not only in Greek squares but in the major squares of Europe.
Today in Europe, Greece and the Greek people are synonymous with struggle and dignity, and this struggle we will continue together for four years, because the mandate we received is for four years.
I want to thank the young people that gave this struggle, I want to thank the people from the working class neighborhoods of Athens and the provinces; SYRIZA demonstrated that it is too hard to die, even when everyone targeted us, it proved that it has very close relations to the working classes, to working people.
This result doesn’t belong to SYRIZA, this results belongs to the working classes of this country, to the people struggling, the ones dreaming of a better tomorrow, and we will achieve this only through hard work and struggle.”