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Conservatives in Greece expect a clear election victory
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the conservative New Democracy party, addresses his supporters during a campaign rally in the center of the Greek capital. photo
© Angelos Tzortzinis/dpa
All indications are that the Greek conservatives will be able to continue governing after the parliamentary elections. The largest opposition party, the left-wing Syriza, on the other hand, could slip even further.
In the parliamentary elections in Greece this Sunday, a clear victory for the conservative People’s Party Nea Dimokratia (ND) under its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is emerging. All polls indicate that the outgoing prime minister will receive around 40 percent of the vote. According to the polls, his closest rival, the left-wing politician Alexis Tsipras and his radical alliance of the left (Syriza), only get around 20 percent.
Such a result would be almost the same as in the previous general election five weeks ago. However, there was simple proportional representation – Mitsotakis could not form a government without an absolute majority. The conservatives did not want to form a coalition and there was no willing partner anyway. So new elections were called.
Pensions and the minimum wage increased slightly
This time, however, a special feature of the electoral law applies: 40 percent of the votes would be enough for the ND for an absolute majority, because the strongest party automatically receives a bonus of at least 20 mandates in parliament with a total of 300 seats. Mitsotakis could thus have a comfortable majority of 160 seats.
The conservative, who has governed alone for the past four years, presents himself as the guarantor of stability, a social market economy, investment and tax breaks. During the election campaign, he repeatedly referred to the successes of his reign. The New Dimokratia had streamlined and digitized the mighty state apparatus. Mitsotakis managed to attract international companies and investors to the country. Unemployment fell to eleven percent (2019: 20 percent), pensions and the minimum wage were slightly increased.
Syriza boss fights for political survival
Syriza boss Alexis Tsipras, on the other hand, is fighting for his political survival in this election. His election campaign, which portrayed Mitsotakis and his reign in a negative light and warned against a kind of conservative regime and social poverty, does not seem to have caught on with the voters. Syriza’s program, which promised higher minimum wages and pensions and the expansion of the welfare state, also failed, especially since Syriza never explained how the expenditures should be financed.
And so the party plummeted in the parliamentary elections five weeks ago – it achieved only 20 percent and thus 11.5 percentage points less than four years earlier. Since then, criticism of the party leader has been growing. If the election result is bad again, it would be Tsipras’ fifth defeat in a row after the 2019 parliamentary elections, the European and local elections and the most recent elections – and possibly his end as party leader.
Situation in Greece slightly improved
Although the Greeks are still among the people most at risk of poverty in a European comparison, the situation has improved at least slightly since Mitsotakis first took office in 2019. That is why many are now banking on political stability instead of renewed high government spending. These had almost driven the country to ruin in the last decade.
In addition to ND and Syriza, another 30 parties are starting today. Among the strongest are the social democratic Pasok, which was last at 11.5 percent, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) with 7.2 percent and the right-wing populist Elliniki Lisi (Greek Solution) with 4.2 percent. In Greece there is a three percent threshold for entering parliament.