Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democratic Party is ahead of its direct rival, Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza, according to polls of Greece’s legislative elections and partial results. Polls give New Democracy 36 to 40% of the vote and Syriza 25 to 29%, and the difference in partial results appears to be wider than expected.
According to exit polls, in third place, Basok (Socialist Party) 9.5 to 12.5%, Communist Party (KKE) 6 to 8%, The. The Greek solution (far right) is 3.5 to 5.5%, and the MeRA25, Party Yannis Varoufkis2.5 to 4.5% and for the first time, the party of the former President of Parliament during the first Syriza government, ZHey Constantopoulou (Parties with more than 3% enter parliament).
If these results are confirmed, a second round will be necessary, which will take place on July 2, in which the party with the most votes receives a bonus of 50 delegates, enabling it to govern without the need for a coalition. So far, no major party has publicly considered forming a government with other parties, making it difficult to imagine an understanding for a coalition. At the end of the three-day period for this purpose, it begins to operate Monday.
And, the results were not yet out, New Democracy was already talking about the second round: the Minister of Public Order, Takis Theodorikakos said on Skai television: “We want to govern with a majority because that will ensure stability and progress. So we have the right to ask the Greek people for that in the next election,” he declared.
Then Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis congratulated himself on the victory, the number was still half way, but the dimension of the distance relative to the second party was already striking: “The results are decisive. They show that the new democracy has gained popular acceptance for governance, strength and autonomy. New Democracy has no incentive to form coalitions when it believes it can win on its own with a second-round bonus.
It was a tough night for Alexis Tsipras. The leader of the leftist Syriza party has already won elections to impose a plan he rejected but was unable to capitalize on the mistakes of the conservative government.
Mitsotakis’s tenure was marked by scandals such as wiretapping of politicians. Watergate Greece, and a serious train accident – the worst in Greek history – in which 57 people, mostly young people, died.
The government has argued that its plan will be difficult to implement due to unforeseen circumstances, such as Covid-19, which has hit tourism hard, or general inflation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finally carry out reforms to improve people’s lives in Greece.
In the 2019 election, New Democracy won 39.8% of the vote, followed by SYRIZA, which was in government, with 31.6%. But since the change in electoral system, the bonus is not used until the second round, the same conservative party numbers are not enough to avoid the second round.
The big electoral variation comes from Syriza, which appears to have taken a sudden plunge. The party has already gone through a wave of defections by key figures such as the former Speaker of Parliament who refused to stay in the party when it was about to impose austerity measures. Zoh Constantopoulou (and Yannis Varoufakis, albeit a late entrant to the party).
While there may be those who say Tsipras should draw the consequences of this devastating decision, there are also those who point to Syriza Tsipras, who took him from the fringes to a major party. , to retain the second position of the opposition in addition to being a government.
During the campaign, Mitsotakis teased the Syriza leader when he played basketball in the United States and dropped out whoever lost.