Tsipras wins Greece's general election

(Vatican Radio) Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Greece’s leftwing Syriza party, coasted to an unexpected re-election victory yesterday, confounding the pollsters who had forecast a very tight race.

 It confirmed Tsipras’s Teflon quality, which seems to have remained durable despite a worsening economy and the burden of capital controls.  The conservative New Democracy party, on the other hand, failed to come up with new ideas.

Listen to John Carr's report from Athens

Syriza carried the election with more than 35 percent of the vote, seven points ahead of New Democracy.  Abstention, though, was at a record high, with nearly one out of two eligible voters not bothering to go to the polls.

His triumph ought to be good news for Europe’s leaders and Greece’s creditors, as he can be expected to observe the terms of the latest bailout deal he signed in July.  New Democracy, in opposition, will almost certainly go along with many of the requirements, minimizing political friction.

 Tsipras, who’d resigned as prime minister a month ago, asked voters for a second chance, and against all odds, he got it.