ATHENS – The upcoming national elections are “the most critical electoral contest in many years,” said SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras on Saturday.

The main opposition party leader was speaking during a meeting of the political secretariat, during which the list of party candidates who will run in the elections was finalized.

Continuing, Tsipras said that “this crucial electoral contest will be decided by those who will go to vote, especially young people, by whether abstinence will be limited, and by the choices made by those who remain undecided.”

Tsipras also noted that “democracy, for us, is a matter of principle,” and that “without democracy there cannot be social justice and economic development, therefore there cannot be any form of stability.”