Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared victory for his party in parliamentary elections on Sunday, saying it has a mandate to form a strong, self-governing government.
Official preliminary results on Sunday showed that the conservative New Democracy party led by Mitsotakis was on course to achieve a major victory in the elections, but was unable to achieve the majority needed to form a one-party government.
“The polling results are decisive, it shows that the New Democracy Party won the people’s approval to rule,” Mitsotakis said, explaining that the parliamentary elections are heading to a second round, and that his party will not ally with another party to form the new government.
The Greek Prime Minister’s party topped the results of the legislative elections today, Sunday, according to partial results, but Mitsotakis may find it difficult to form a stable government due to his lack of an absolute majority.
The New Democracy Party, which has been in power for 4 years, won 41.1% of the vote, ahead of the left-wing Syriza party led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, which won 20% of the vote, according to the results announced after counting the cards in 30% of the polling stations.
The Pasok Kinal Socialist Party came third, achieving 12.6% of the vote.
And polls conducted by television channels predicted that the New Democracy Party, which has been in power for 4 years, would win between 36 and 40 percent of the vote, ahead of the left-wing Syriza party, which would win between 25 and 29 percent of the vote.
popular anger
About 36 parties are competing in these elections for 300 seats in Parliament.
The cost-of-living crisis is at the center of the campaign, as parties try to entice voters with pledges to raise the minimum wage and create jobs.
The price hikes had a major impact on Greeks, whose living standards fell during the decade-long debt crisis.
And after Greece was on the brink of exiting the eurozone at the height of its debt crisis in 2015, Mitsotakis – who was elected in 2019 – presented himself through his campaign as the perfect choice to get out of the crisis, winning at that time with just under 10 million votes.
Mitsotakis said after casting his vote, “Today we vote for the future, today the responsibility of the country’s government passes to you the people, but I am sure that tomorrow will be better for our country.”
However, his administration was subjected to public anger due to a train accident that occurred on February 28, which resulted in the death of 57 people, as well as because of a scandal of eavesdropping on politicians.
And in the event that no party wins a clear majority, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give the three parties with the most votes a mandate for 3 days for each party to form a government.
And if all parties fail in this task, the president will appoint a transitional government that will lead the country until preparing for new elections in about a month.
And that vote will govern a previous system that grants additional parliamentary seats to the results leaders.
