In the parliamentary elections in Greece, a clear victory for Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ party is emerging. According to preliminary results, it comes to 40 percent. The left Syriza party won less than 18 percent.
In the second parliamentary elections in Greece within just five weeks, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki’s conservative party New Democracy is clearly ahead, according to the first official partial results. Based on around 40 percent of the votes counted, she achieved 40.4 percent – almost the same result as in the previous vote in May.
The largest opposition party, the left-wing Syriza under Alexis Tsipras, came to 17.8 percent. In May she had secured 20 percent of the votes.
Mitsotakis will benefit from the new right to vote
In a first election at the end of May, the Conservatives had clearly won, but rejected the call to form a coalition government. Since then, a transitional government has ruled in Greece. A new electoral law was applied, according to which the strongest party would get up to 50 bonus seats. Mitsotakis therefore hopes to be able to form a “stable and effective government”, as he said before the new election.
On May 21, Mitsotakis’ ND had already emerged as the clear winner with 40.8 percent of the vote, but had missed the absolute majority. For the ND it was the best result since 2007.
Under Mitsotakis, the Greek economy has stabilized after years of austerity. Unemployment fell, economic growth was six percent in 2022, the investment rate grew, and tourism is picking up again this year. During the election campaign, Mitsotakis also emphasized that he had cut more than 50 taxes.
Syriza party could counter Mitsotakis little
The left-wing party Syriza had difficulties in the run-up to oppose the course of the ND. After an election result of only 20.0 percent, she tried to make the social consequences of inflation an issue for many people. Tsipras tried again with social promises such as higher salaries and pensions. He also wanted to reduce VAT on groceries and petrol to relieve the burden on citizens.
In the last polls, however, the party slipped further. After casting his vote, Tsipras warned of an “uncontrolled government” under Mitsotakis.
Other parties in the new parliament
The social democratic Pasok will also be in parliament with 12.9 percent (May: 11.5 percent), the Greek Communist Party KKE with 7.2 percent and the radical right-wing national party Spartiates with 4.8 percent. The right-wing populist party Elliniki Lisi also made it into parliament with a provisional 4.7 percent.
In addition, the ultra-Orthodox party Niki is expected to be represented with 3.8 percent of the parliament. The radical left-wing small party Plefsi Eleftherias has to worry about entering parliament with three percent (May 2023: 2.9 percent). Far behind was the Mera25 party of former left-wing Finance Minister Giannis Varoufakis with 2.2 percent (May 2023: 2.6 percent).