* Greek voters angry ahead of May 6 ballot
* Slashed pensions, tax increases enrage squeezed seniors
* Young voters blighted by high unemployment, bleak future
By Erik Kirschbaum
MARATHON, Greece, April 29 (Reuters) – Georgios Pasayannis
was a Greek civil servant for 40 years, and the 73-year-old
pensioner voted faithfully for New Democracy throughout,
confident his future was safe in the hands of the conservative
party.
Now he says he will never cast his ballot again for “those
crooks” or their coalition partners, the centre-left PASOK
party, since they cut his 1,500 euro per month pension by a
third while pushing through tax increases.
Their mismanagement of Greece has turned the twilight of his
life into a grinding struggle. Pasayannis, who worked for the
defence ministry, says he plans to get revenge at the May 6
national elections.
“We pay and pay, but we have nothing for it,” said the man
who had hoped for a carefree retirement in the seaside village
of Marathon, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Athens. “They
cheated us and lied to us for years. They’re a bunch of crooks.”
Greeks are in a fractious mood ahead of the election, and
much of their anger is directed at the two parties that have
long dominated the political landscape.
Their discontent can be felt across the Mediterranean nation
of 11 million, and it is especially palpable in Marathon, a
dusty farming town of 8,000 that gave the world a synonym for
endurance. Senior citizens like Pasayannis, whose pensions were
cut as part of the government’s austerity drive, swing between
shock and rage.
Mass defections from the ruling parties by the elderly, once
their most loyal voters, will lead to a crumbling of support on
May 6, pollsters say. About 30 percent of Greece’s 9.85 million
strong electorate – 2.8 million – is over 65.
At the other end of the spectrum, legions of young voters
are also turning their back on the two parties that have taken
turns ruling Greece for the last four decades. About 15 percent
of the electorate – 1.4 million – is 18 to 29.
The unemployment rate for Greeks under the age of 25 tops 50
percent. Hordes of young Greeks who have seen their career hopes
destroyed by the economic implosion are also expected to turn
their backs on ND and PASOK, pollsters say.
Opinion polls show gains for small parties that oppose the
steep wage and pension cuts imposed on Greece by the European
Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for aid.
ANGER IN MARATHON
In Marathon, where an ancient burial mound marks the famous
battle in 490 BC when outnumbered Greeks defeated the Persians,
the odds are stacked against the young.
Vicki Karabela, 24, is luckier than most. She works for the
post office, but too many friends and relatives are without jobs
as Greece’s recession enters its fifth year.
“Nobody is going to vote for the ruling parties because
they’re a bunch of liars,” Karabela said, her eyes blazing. “No
one believes a word these politicians say any more. I voted for
them last time, but never again.”
She said if she does vote it will be for one of several
smaller parties that pollsters say could win enough support to
deny a majority to the two ruling parties, which won a combined
77 percent in the last election in 2009 but could fall short of
40 percent this time.
“Young people are suffering the most because of these
clowns,” she said. “For young people in Greece now there is no
job, no hope, no nothing.”
Though they express similar angry disillusion, the young and
old are not expected to vote alike, say pollsters.
Seniors will likely stick to their left or right voting
habits but shift to the smaller parties, while voters under 25
are more unpredictable.
“Old voters, over 55, vote more traditionally. The young
have completely different criteria. It’s like two different
worlds,” said Ilias Nikolakopoulos from Opinion Group.
FEELING CHEATED
Antonis Papas will not vote for PASOK again. Sitting inside
his kiosk on Marathon’s main street with plenty of time on his
hands, he said business has collapsed since the crisis hit.
Nowadays he is lucky to have daily sales of 10 to 20 euros,
with his take-home earnings perhaps a third of that. Three years
ago he was selling 150 to 200 euros’ worth of drinks, sweets,
newspapers, magazines and tobacco each day.
“My life used to be good,” said the 58-year-old through his
flowing beard. “Now I’m nothing. The government is treating old
people like dirt.”
The election will be the first since the debt crisis blew up
in 2009, plunging the country into its worst economic downturn
since World War Two.
The snap election was called this month after Prime Minister
Lucas Papademos’s emergency interim government made up of ND and
PASOK completed its mandate to secure a new EU/IMF rescue deal
and a landmark debt restructuring.
The human cost of the deal can be felt everywhere. Younger
voters like George Triantis, 27, considers himself fortunate
because he has a job in his family’s fishing line company.
But he said he will definitely not vote for ND or PASOK this
time. The two parties have wreaked such havoc in Greece that
they do not deserve another chance, he said.
“They didn’t tell us the truth about the situation, even
though everyone knew what was happening,” he said. “People my
age and younger feel cheated by the two big parties.”
Greeks have always loved talking politics, and this election
is no different. Spiros Stefanopoulos, a 25-year-old who just
graduated from university, worries his degree in electrical
engineering will be of no help.
“I’m trying to find a job, but it’s extremely hard at the
moment because no one is hiring, everyone is laying people off.”
He and his friend Christos Spulas, 25, broke out in laughter
when asked if they would vote for ND or PASOK.
“No way,” said Spulas. “They’re all the same, and none of
these parties are good for Greece. I’m not going to vote for
anyone. It’s a very hard time to be looking for a job in Greece.
It doesn’t matter if you have a degree in engineering or
economics. We’re all unemployed.”
(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou, Dina Kyriakidou and
Tatiana Fragou in Athens; Editing by Will Waterman)
