ATHENS - The radical leftist party Syriza, tipped to win next month's early election in Greece, is a coalition of leftist groups who oppose austerity and privatisations and want to renegotiate the country's EU-IMF bailout deal.
Led by young civil engineer Alexis Tsipras, Syriza was forged in 2012 at the height of Greece's economic crisis, four years after the then 33-year-old took the helm of a floundering leftist alliance.
In that time its ratings have quintupled, making the party the most popular in the country, scoring 27 percent in the latest polls.
Tsipras has also become the undisputed star of the radical European left, standing against Jean-Claude Juncker in May's election for European Commission president.
Our priority is to save the country inside the euro, not to save the euro in Greece by destroying society, he said in a TV interview in 2012.
A former Communist, he is also fond of attacking German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the wicked champion of austerity.
Syriza, which refused to take part in this month's presidential election in order to force snap polls, wants to raise salaries and pensions, halt layoffs and freeze the privatisation of state assets -- key elements of reforms demanded by Greece's EU-IMF creditors.
AFP
