During the election campaign, Mitsotakis presented himself as the guarantor of political stability, economic growth, tax breaks, investments and new jobs.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Athens The Greek parliamentary elections on Sunday evening saw a clear victory for the conservatives and the previous prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The 55-year-old, who has ruled the country since 2019, can thus continue his reform course over the next four years.
According to a voter survey published by the Skai TV station immediately after the polls closed, the conservative Nea Dimokratia (ND) received 40 to 44 percent of the votes. The radical-left alliance Syriza with Alexis Tsipras, who was head of government from 2019 to 2019, came in second place, according to the forecasts, with 16 to 19 percent.
If the surveys are confirmed, Mitsotakis can rely on a majority of 158 of the 300 seats in the new parliament. That would be a clear mandate for the continuation of his one-party government.
It was the second general election in Greece in five weeks. Greeks had already gone to the polls in mid-May. Even then, the ND had clearly won the election with almost 41 percent. However, she just missed the absolute majority of parliamentary mandates.
Because none of the parties in question wanted to form a coalition, new elections were necessary. They took place under a new electoral law that rewards the strongest party with a bonus of up to 50 of the 300 parliamentary seats.
During the election campaign, Mitsotakis presented himself as the guarantor of political stability, economic growth, tax breaks, investments and new jobs. He said on Sunday when voting in the Athens suburb of Kifisia: “I am sure that the Greeks will vote with insight for their personal prosperity and the stability of the country.”
Since the failed formation of a government in May, a top judge has served as interim prime minister in the seat of government.
(Photo: imago images/ANE Edition)
The former crisis country, which was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2015 under the then Tsipras government, has made great progress in the past few years in restructuring the shattered state finances and reducing debt. In terms of economic growth, Greece has been in the top group of EU countries since 2021. Investments have grown by 44 percent since Mitsotakis took office.
Greece has reduced its debt ratio faster than any other EU country over the past two years, by 35 percentage points from 206.3 to 171.3 percent of gross domestic product.
Unemployment fell to its lowest level in 12 years. Mitsotakis lowered income and corporate taxes. The country also made rapid progress in the digitization of public administration.
The wiretapping affair and the train accident didn’t do any lasting harm to Mitsotakis
The election shows that a majority of the people in Greece are counting on the continuation of the current policy. A wiretapping affair that became known last year, in which Mitsotakis was charged, and a serious train accident in February that revealed glaring safety deficiencies and failures at the state railway company OSE, have not damaged the government’s popularity in the long term.
In contrast, opposition leader Tsipras found little response to his proposal for “change”. During the election campaign, Tsipras concentrated primarily on attacks against Mitsotakis and the conservatives, without clearly saying what he wanted to do differently. Syriza had already lost more than a third of its voters in the May election compared to 2019 and has now lost another two to four percentage points.
Mitsotakis has not announced “keep it up” for his second term of office, but a new start. The composition of the new government, which the re-elected head of government intends to present on Tuesday, will therefore be interesting. Those close to Mitsotaki said the prime minister wanted to rejuvenate the cabinet and bring more women and side entrants from outside the governing party into his team.
During the election campaign, Mitsotakis named the continuation of the fiscal restructuring course, the digitization of public administration, tax breaks, the promotion of private investments, a judicial reform to speed up the administration of justice, an expansion of the transport infrastructure and local public transport as priorities for the next four years of the state health system and a modernization of the education system.
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