Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' right-wing party won a landslide victory in Greece's general elections on Sunday 21st May but a second election will be necessary to guarantee it a stable government.

New Democracy (ND), led by the outgoing Prime Minister, won 40.8% of the vote, according to partial results from 85% of polling stations. It is clearly ahead of the left of former head of government, Alexis Tsipras, who only won 20% of the vote, ahead of the socialist party Pasok-Kinal which recorded a score of 11.6%.

Hailing with his victory "a political earthquake", Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at the helm since 2019, paved the way for a second election that could be held at the end of June or beginning of July and would allow him, if he confirms this performance, to win an absolute majority.

Thanks to a different electoral system, the winning party would then get a "bonus" of up to 50 seats. According to projections on Sunday night, his party won 145 of the 300 seats, six seats short of the absolute majority.

"Mathematically confirmed"

Shortly after, addressing his jubilant supporters, he assured: "together we will fight tomorrow so that in the next elections what the citizens have already decided, namely an autonomous ND, is mathematically confirmed."

During his electoral campaign, Kyriakos Mitsotakis ruled out forming a coalition in a country whose political culture is not based on compromise.

For his part, the former Prime Minister of the radical left Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, noting his defeat, called on his supporters to lead a "second crucial electoral struggle". But the 48-year-old leader, who has largely refocused Syriza in recent years, suffered a heavy failure, he who had promised "change".

The Greeks have never really forgiven him for crossing swords with the European Union during the stormy negotiations for the granting of a rescue plan in 2015 to the point of pushing the country to the brink of exit from the euro. Before capitulating and having to implement drastic austerity measures dictated by Greece's creditors.

"Stronger country"

During his electoral campaign, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a Harvard graduate and son of a former Prime Minister, did not stop brandishing his economic record. Before his victory he said he wanted to make Greece "a stronger country with an important role in Europe".

Falling unemployment, growth of nearly 6% last year, return of investments and soaring tourism, the economy has recovered after years of crisis and strict austerity.

His opponent, who embodied in 2015 the hopes of the radical left in Europe, wanted to see in these elections "a day of hope" to "turn the page" to a government "arrogant and not interested in the most numerous".

The decline in purchasing power and the difficulties in making ends meet remain the main concerns of the Greeks. And inflation approached 10% last year, further aggravating the difficulties of the population. The country is still basking under a public debt of more than 170% of its GDP.

"There is a part of the population condemned to hunger," said Giorgos Koulouris, a 60-year-old minor. "Children go abroad, scientists (...) are leaving because they cannot live in Greece with wages stagnating and rents exploding."

At the end of February, the rail disaster that killed 57 people revived the anger that has plagued Greece since the crisis and triggered protests against the government accused of negligence.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis' critics accuse him of an authoritarian drift since he came to power. His tenure has been marred by scandals, from illegal eavesdropping to migrant pushbacks and police violence.

Greece, which is singled out for "violations of the rule of law", is also regularly accused of turning migrants back to Turkey when it comes to press freedom in the EU's annual ranking.

With AFP

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