Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the New Democracy party scored a more than 30-point victory over Alexis Tsipras and the left-wing Tolda, Syriza
Text: R.F.I.
The right-wing party of former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was leading the exit polls comfortably in Greece’s legislative elections on Sunday, guaranteeing it an absolute majority to form a “stable government”.
The New Democracy (ND) formation, in power since 2019, would have collected between 40% and 44% of the votes, ahead of the left-wing party Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, which would have obtained between 16.1% and 19.1% of the votes, a worse result than that obtained in the previous elections, on May 21, according to polls broadcast on television at the closing of the polling stations.
Between five and nine parties have passed the 3% threshold to enter Greece’s monocameral parliament, which has 300 seats, according to polls. The first partial results should be published from 17:30 GMT. Alexis Tsipras, from the Syriza party, promised to fight “until the last second” despite the poor result achieved in the previous elections on May 21, in which Mitsotakis was only five seats short of an absolute majority.
Mitsotakis, a 55-year-old Harvard graduate and head of government in 2019 at the end of May, won a sweeping victory five weeks ago with 40.8% of the vote, double that of Syriza. The ease of his victory, which surprised analysts, did not, however, allow him to reach an absolute majority.
The conservative leader, at the head of the New Democracy party, ruled out a coalition with other formations and led to the electoral repetition of this Sunday, which he arrived with between 37.8% and 45% of voting intentions according to the latest polls. After voting in a residential neighborhood in the capital, Mitsotakis stated that the Greeks are voting “for the second time in a few weeks to obtain a stable and effective government.”
At a school in the Pangrati neighborhood of Athens, Aris Manopoulos, a merchant in his fifties, said he had opted “for reason.” “I have voted for New Democracy to move the country forward and continue to rise economically,” he declared.
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Mitsotakis puts Tsipras on the tightrope
Syriza, which obtained 20.07% of the vote on May 21, could continue to fall, according to projections, which now give it between 16.8% and 20%. The electoral appointment will decide whether on Monday Greece has an “uncontrolled government” or “a democratic balance”, with “a strong opposition” capable of playing its role, Tsipras said in turn after exercising his right to vote.
On this occasion, the winner of the elections will have a bonus of 50 deputies in the chamber (which counts for a total of 300), which could help Mitsotakis decisively. By giving New Democracy an absolute majority in the July 2019 elections, to the detriment of Syriza, the Greeks wanted to turn the page on years of financial crisis and bailout plans, which destroyed 25% of national GDP and threatened the country. with taking it out of the euro zone.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, son of a former prime minister and uncle of the current mayor of Athens, did not stop boasting about his economic balance, marked by growth of 8.3% in 2021 and 5.9% in 2022, with unemployment at lowers it But Tsipras, once the hope of the radical left in Europe, warned during the campaign against giving his rival a “blank check” that would allow him to push a “hidden agenda” of anti-social policies.
The leader of Syriza is risking his political future in the electoral appointment this Sunday, after acknowledging after May 21 that he thought of resigning.
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