Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy (ND) party won a landslide victory over its main rival, Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party, in Greece’s national elections on Sunday, according to official preliminary results.
After most polling stations were tallied, ND reportedly had a 21-point lead over Syriza, but still not an outright majority.
Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis hailed the result as a “political earthquake” and a strong mandate for the ND.
But even if ND won the most seats, failure to win outright means Mitsotakis must either look for coalition partners or opt for a new election.
Given the deep divisions between Greek political parties, negotiations would likely become tricky, with a second vote likely in late June or early July.
Given the results and the “uncertainty” of negotiations, Mitsotakis hinted that new elections were needed to bring about a strong government.
A new vote would take place with a new electoral law giving bonus seats to the winning party, making it easier for them to form a government themselves.
Greece votes: Giorgos Christides reports from Thessaloniki
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With dozens of parties vying for the election, the vote pitted Mitsotakis and his centre-right party against Syriza, which is also chaired by a former prime minister.
Polls on the outcome of the election showed that only six or seven of the 36 participating parties were likely to reach the 3 percent threshold to win seats in the 300-seat parliament.
Tsipras, who was Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019, called Mitsotakis on Sunday night to congratulate him on his victory.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis casts his ballot in a voting boothImage: Louiza Vradi/Portal
What was the focus of the campaign?
According to recent opinion polls, Mitsotakis’ ND party is in the lead. However, he lost his double-digit lead due to the rail disaster in February, which killed 57 people.
He was also involved in a wiretapping scandal in which the secret service tapped the phone of Nikos Androulakis, leader of the opposition socialist party PASOK.
But Mitsotakis, 55, was quick to point to his government’s achievements in recent years, including cutting taxes for both businesses and individuals.
After casting his vote, he urged voters to choose the stability he believes he stands for.
“Today we are voting for our future, for more and better jobs, for a more efficient health system, for a stronger country with an important role in Europe and protected borders,” he said.
48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, the current heated leader of the left-wing Syriza party, ran a campaign heavily focused on the rail disaster and wiretapping scandal.
On Sunday, Tsipras said Election Day was “a day of hope.”
“Citizens have an opportunity … to change the course of the country and put behind them four difficult years of inequality, injustice, greed, job insecurity, auctions, humiliation for pensioners and targeted persecution of youth,” he said, describing the current government as “arrogant”.
Greece was hit hard by a cost-of-living crisis, which was a key issue in the political campaigns leading up to the vote as parties tried to lure voters with promises of job creation and better wages.
Lowered voting age
More than 9.8 million Greeks were eligible to vote for 300 MPs in the unicameral parliament, who serve four-year terms, in Sunday’s general election.
The voting age was lowered to 17 for the first time, while Greek citizens living abroad were also allowed to vote in their country of residence.
Polling stations in 22,000 polling stations closed at 19:00 local time (1600 UTC).
Before the election, five people were arrested on suspicion of attempted vote-buying. Incriminating materials were found in one of the suspect’s cars, the Athens News Agency reported.
Police found around 200 identity cards, passports and a bag containing 114 envelopes, each containing a parliamentary candidate’s card and five ballot papers with the candidate’s name already ticked.
tj,kb/sms (Portal, dpa, AP)