How should we read Syriza’s latest electoral victory? Certainly this question forms the basis for countless discussions on the Left. Why did the Greek people choose to back a politician who turned their proud “Oxi” into subservience toward the third and most brutal of all the memoranda? Moreover, why has the left-wing split from Syriza failed to even enter parliament?

The answer to these questions consists of many parts that cannot be analyzed here — the record abstention rate of 45 percent, the fear of a conservative comeback, Popular Unity’s twenty-eight-day existence, just to name a few. Nevertheless, there’s another aspect worth considering that, while not capable of explaining the whole picture or even most of it, certainly contributes to a better understanding of the Greek political landscape.

Much has been said and written in the last five years about the supposed comeback of “populism” and “populist politics,” the importance of “empty signifiers” in forming broad movements and alliances. In this telling, Podemos and Syriza are populist movements that belong neither to the Left nor to the Right, while Tsipras and Pablo Iglesias are the quintessence of populist leaders, able to rally the masses behind them.