It is difficult for a columnist to choose a subject other than the elections in Greece. The victory by the Coalition for the Radical Left (Syriza), already heralded by opinion polls, has become a reality. The magnitude of the electoral win is surprising; Alexis Tsipras will have almost an absolute majority with less than 36 percent of the vote. However, during the victory speech he gave in Athens last night before a jubilant public, he made it clear that he wanted to govern with as much support as he can get. In any case, the upcoming government will be relying on the support of a minor political force such as center-left, euro-friendly To Potami (The River) and austerity-opposing center-right Independent Greeks, and it is more than likely that Tsipras will try to form a government as largely representative as possible. In this sense, besides the major opposition party, Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy), the neo-fascist Golden Dawn -with whom nobody wants to fraternize - and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), who have a long history of civil strife with the founders of Syriza, everyone else, even including the ailing Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), can become a coalition partner.Tsipras needs a large front for the policies he wants to implement. His close collaborator, economics Professor Yannis Varoufakis, has declared that a three-step, short-term program has been devised by Syriza. The first step is to end the humanitarian tragedy, as they call it, which is to find a solution for people who have lost their jobs, houses and practically their entire livelihood. The second step will be tackling the ossified, all-mighty Greek oligarchy by getting rid of red tape, totally revamping the dysfunctional tax-collecting system and challenging the mass media structure, as most of the national media is owned by powerful business groups. The third and ultimate step is to renegotiate the austerity policy measures imposed on Greece by the EU partners via the troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. Does the next Greek government, led by Syriza, have the strength to carry out these measures? This is not at all certain, as the administration must be paid at the end of the month and the Greek treasury lacks even the means to do this. Syriza will have enormous trouble finding the approximately 11 billion euros needed to implement the social measures it has promised, let alone renegotiate its debt. So how are they planning to succeed in fulfilling their promises even partially?The first issue is the fact that the austerity program has not delivered the expected results. It has been implemented for almost six years and during this time foreign debt has attained galactic levels instead of dwindling steadily as it was meant to do. The message sent by Greek voters to EU leaders is clear: "... long-suffering voters can no longer stomach self-defeating austerian policies that result in a country losing a quarter of its national output, its young people either emigrating in droves or forced to be, like 50 percent-plus others, jobless and without a future, its pensioners lose 40 percent of their income, its middle class unable to buy medicines - and its rich squirrel even more of its wealth overseas and pay no tax," as succinctly described by David Gow on the Social Europe website. Insisting upon continuing austerity measures and the drastic limitations to public spending will not make the economy function more efficiently.Why don't the austerity policies deliver results? It is because of the total inefficiency of the state structure, totally rigid market access systems, institutionalized tax evasion mechanisms and the oligarchic structure of political life and of the mass media. The modern Greek state has gone bankrupt four times since 1821. Will Syriza attack this ailing system with full force? And with whose support? And with just above one-third of the votes cast.The problem is not the euro or the troika or Chancellor Angela Merkel. Greece will have to face its structural shortcomings once and for all. It cannot do it alone, but within the EU, the anti-Merkel front might prove to be much larger than anticipated. What is at stake is not the fate of Syriza, but the fate of the attempt to establish a sustainable economic system and solidarity mechanism within the EU and on its periphery. This includes Turkey.