Conservatives demand landslide victory – DW – 06/26/2023

Greece’s conservative New Democracy party claimed victory on Sunday Parliament electionswhich was called upon to break the political deadlock caused by last month’s elections.

With 95% of the votes counted, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ party came out on top with 40.5% of the vote.

“The people gave us a secure majority,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address on Sunday night. “Major reforms will proceed quickly.”

Addressing a cheering crowd outside his party headquarters, the 55-year-old former McKinsey adviser promised strong growth that he said would lead to higher wages.

Mitsotakis’ party is set to occupy about 157 of the 300 seats in parliament thanks to a re-election law that gives the winning party an additional 50 seats.

In the elections held in May, Mitsotakis’ party scored a landslide victory among the individual parties But it lost only five seats to be able to form a one-party majority in parliament.

Rather than seek a coalition government, Mitsotakis chose to call another vote, confident that Greece’s rules if a second election were needed would improve his chances of an outright victory, given how close he had come from the first attempt.

How was the fare opposition parties?

about 9.8 million Greek Voters were eligible to choose from 32 political parties on Sunday.

the Radical Left Alliance (Syriza) got about 18% of the vote – worse than the previous election result in May.

“We have suffered a heavy electoral defeat,” said party leader Alex Tsipras.

“Needless to say, I will be the first to face the judgment of the party members.”

The center-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) got nearly 13% of the vote, while the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) got more than 7% and the ultranationalist Spartans party got about 5%.

The left-wing MeRA25 party, founded by former Syriza Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, has yet to pass the 3% threshold required to enter parliament.

expected result

The elections took place in the wake of a Migrant shipwreck on June 14 It is feared that hundreds of people will die.

Opinion polls conducted before the election point to strong odds of victory for conservative Mitsotakis, who has been Greece’s prime minister since 2019.

He has promoted a strong economy under his leadership and most analysts attribute the ND’s strong position to the country’s gradual recovery from its nearly decade-long financial crisis.

Mitsotakis’ first period was marked by a return to economic growth and low unemployment in Greece.

Syriza was expected to receive the second-highest percentage of the vote, but still lag behind the ruling party.

Tsipras criticized Mitsotakis over eavesdropping scandal And on immigration.

His party’s support evaporated in 2019 after Syriza steered Greece through some of its most turbulent years in the debt crisis.

zc, mf, msh / dj (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AP)