Ambitious “Europe reformer” and enfant terrible of Greek and European finances Yanis Varoufakis and his party MeRA25 narrowly missed a seat in the European Parliament.
From Monday to Tuesday afternoon, the live results transmitted via the website of the Greek Interior Ministry were showing that MeRA25 had collected 3.1% of the votes on Sunday. A descent rate enough to grant the party a seat in Strasbourg.
However, after 3 o’ clock it became clear that the party of former finance minister had fallen below 3%.
The seat, one out of 21 for Greece, goes then to conservative New Democracy.
Had MeRA25 elected one MEP, this would have been Sofia Sakorafa, former elected MEP for SYRIZA.
Responding to Greek media reporting that wrote “MeRA25 lost one seat in the EP” Varoufakis tweeted:
To our friends who heard that DiEM25 lost its Greek EP seat: We lost NOTHING! Having secured 3%, we gained the RIGHT & OBLIGATION to lead the revival of progressive politics in Greece. To this purpose, we shall issue an Open Call at a special Athens press conference. Onwards!
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) May 28, 2019
Will he and his party manage to pass the 3% threshold and enter the Greek Parliament in the upcoming July elections? And if Yes, would he ever ally with Tsipras?
His position is very clear!
Yes! Yes! And absolutely No! https://t.co/WqPQtbl4DC
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) May 28, 2019