Left-of-centre Greeks voted for Syriza both to punish Pasok for impoverishing the country and because Syriza opposes reforms that would open up closed-shop professions in a bid to make Greece more competitive.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear chief whose principled attacks on Mr Mubarak helped launch Egypt's revolution, abandoned a hoped-for presidential bid because in the absence of a constitution the race, he said, would be open to manipulation.