This paper examines how the radical left parties became the big winners of Greece’s last elections in May and June 2012. The rise of the Greek radical left signaled the collapse of the country’s two traditionally dominant parties (Panhellenic Socialist Movement - PASOK and New Democracy - ND), which have ruled the political life since the collapse of the Junta in 1974. As a result to this, the Greek party system seems to be just as volatile as it was in the early 1950s. The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) ended up as Greece’s second strongest party with 16,8% of the popular vote in the May elections and 26,9% in the June elections, provoking an electoral earthquake and becoming the leader party of the Greek centre-left. This paper explores the causes that lie behind the electoral rise of SYRIZA in the last two elections in Greece as well as the flexible and unstable transformation of the Greek centre-left as a whole. Considering that the vote of the radical left was a protest and “last –second” voting, there is enough evidence to suggest that the message from the ballot box is resonant but ambiguous. As for whether the transformation of the Greek radical left will gain depth and continuance, only vague estimates can be drawn. Ultimately, Greek radical left constitutes a peculiar but interesting case among the West European radical left parties. As a conclusion, the paper explains why the study of the rise of the Greek SYRIZA amidst the international financial crisis is critical to understanding and to explaining the reshaping and the electoral fluctuations of the radical left in Europe.
