The Greeks confirmed their confidence in the outgoing premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis and in his Conservative Party of Nea Demokratia. The Greek right-wing party gets a clear victory, exceeding all the expectations of the polls, detaching the opposition by several percentage points, starting with Syriza, the party led by the former prime minister Alexis Tsipras and main rival. According to data from the Interior Ministry, Nea Dimokratia conquered 40,8% of votes and 146 seats, while Syriza it obtained 20,06% of the vote and 71 seats. Other parties that have won significant seats are supply with 11,57% of the vote and 41 seats and the Communist Party KKE with 7,19% of the vote and 26 seats. With 2,5%, the left party MeRA25by the former finance minister Yanis Varufakis, leaves Parliament (3% is the threshold). Participation stood at 56,1%, a percentage almost identical to that of the last elections, in 2019 (ten million Greek citizens voting).
No self-sufficiency to govern. New elections in June
La clear victory is not enough, however, to the current premier to govern in self-sufficiency. Indeed, the 40,8% obtained from Nea Dimokratia would yield necessary to form a coalition government. The result does not allow the outgoing prime minister to have an absolute majority in the 300-seat parliament, elected with a simple proportional system. According to party sources, thus, Mitsotakis intends to give up an exploratory mandate in order to re-elect on June 25th, with an electoral system that would guarantee a secure majority and free from any blackmail from other parties. The new elections would have a different electoral system, approved precisely during the government of Nea Dimokratia, which directly assigns a bonus of seats, up to a maximum of 50, to the winning party.
“The data from the polls is clear: the message is that Nea Dimokratia is autonomous” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, commenting on the results. “Hope defeated pessimism. The mathematics of proportional representation leads to dead ends. In the next elections we will demonstrate that what the citizens wanted, the self-sufficiency of Nea Dimokratia, will be mathematically confirmed,” Mitsotakis declared. The premier then expressed gratitude for the support received, stating that he wanted to work even harder to honor the trust of citizens.
Tsipras confirms defeat
Alexis Tsipras, former premier and leader of the leftist party Syriza,admits defeat and phones Mitsotakis to congratulate him on winning the election. “The election result is extremely negative for Syriza. I contacted Mitsotakis and got congratulated him for his victory. Matches have both wins and losses. Our collegial bodies will meet immediately to evaluate the electoral results". Tsipras had called for a “progressive coalition” to avert a new government of Nea Dimokratia, but the hopes placed in the vote of the undecided and younger voters were dashed at the polls.
