Since there was no absolute majority on May 21, the outgoing Prime Minister had called for new elections. He hopes to extend his lead over Syriza there on Sunday and form “a stable government”.
Will this second ballot in five weeks be the right one? Outgoing right-wing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the big favorite in Greece’s general elections on Sunday June 25, which he hopes to win with an absolute majority to form a “stable government”. Opposite him, left leader Alexis Tsipras pledged to fight “until the last second” despite Syriza’s bitter defeat in the last election on May 21.
Polling stations opened at 7am (6am in Paris). The polls will be released when polling stations close at 8pm (7pm in Paris).
The big favorite in the polls, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, head of government from 2019 until the end of May, had won a major victory with 40.8% of the vote five weeks ago. But that advance, the scale of which surprised analysts, did not give him the absolute majority needed to form a coalition-free government. The leader of the New Democracy had ruled out the formation of a coalition and called for new elections.
A third ballot in the absence of a majority?
The latest polls give between 37.8% and 45% of the voting intentions right this time. For Syriza, which managed to get just 20.07% of the vote on May 21, down 11.5 points compared to 2019, the drop could be worse. Forecasts assume 16.8% to 20%. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is banking on a different electoral system from May 21, this time giving the party that took first place a “bonus” of up to 50 seats.
The 55-year-old leader faces two potential pitfalls. On the one hand, the possible fatigue of voters who went to the polls twice in less than two months and could prefer the beaches on this summer Sunday. On the other hand, votes are crumbling, particularly on the Conservative right, where three small formations are vying for votes from far-right sympathizers. You must register at least 3% of the votes to send MPs to Parliament. However, the number of parties represented in Parliament will have arithmetic consequences for the number of seats allotted to the New Democracy.
On Friday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis raised the specter… of a third ballot in the middle of summer, when most Greeks are on vacation. “I hope we don’t have to see each other again in early August,” he said on Skaï TV, adding: “It’s not a joke!”