mandate - 常時英心：言葉の森から 1.0

　ギリシャ選挙では，現与党を破り，急進左派連合が勝利した模様です。この記事では，総投票数の75%を数えた時点についてですが，野党は149議席を獲得したようです。
　今回取り上げる単語は"mandate"です。「命令する」という意味で覚えておりましたが『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）を調べてみると「（選挙民が政府などに与える）権限，信任」という表現が最初に書かれております。ODには"An official order or commission to do something"とあることから，公式的に権限を与えることが分かりますね。権限移譲といえば"delegate"が思い浮かびました。調べてみると，こちらは"A person sent or authorized to represent others, in particular an elected representative sent to a conference"と定義されており，個人が他人に権限を委譲する場面で使えるようです。例文にも"she must delegate duties so as to free herself for more important tasks"というように，個人が主語になっております。（Ume）

Greece election: Anti-austerity Syriza wins election

Left-wing party leader Alexis Tsipras, who wants to renegotiate Greece's debt, said "the Greeks wrote history".

The governing centre-right New Democracy has come a distant second.

Outgoing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has admitted defeat and phoned Mr Tsipras to congratulate him.

Syriza's result will send shockwaves through Europe, the BBC's Gavin Hewitt in Athens reports.

A majority of voters in Greece have essentially rejected a core policy for dealing with the eurozone crisis as devised by Brussels and Berlin, our correspondent adds.

'Thing of the past'
Addressing his jubilant supporters in front of Athens' university, Mr Tsipras said Greek voters gave Syriza "a clear, powerful mandate".

The BBC's Gavin Hewitt: "This projected result will send shockwaves through Europe"
"You are an example of history which is changing... Your mandate is undoubtedly cancelling the bailouts of austerity and destruction.

"The troika for Greece is the thing of the past," he added, referring to the country's biggest international lenders - the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB)

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30975437