NIt is still an equation with many unknowns, but it can no longer be ruled out: Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his former Finance Minister Giannis Varoufakis may be about to return to power in Athens. At least Tsipras is no longer as hopeless in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Greece as it seemed for a long time. Since July 2019, when Kyriakos Mitsotakis took office as prime minister, his conservative party Nea Dimokratia has been clearly ahead of the “alliance of the radical left” (Syriza) of his predecessor Tsipras in all polls.
In the last few weeks before the election, of all places, the lead has shrunk so significantly that a change of power no longer seems entirely illusory. At the very least, Mitsotakis, who has ruled alone so far, will be dependent on coalition partners in the future – and that’s where things get complicated because he alienated his most important potential partner. The combination of a new electoral law, a wiretapping scandal and the train accident on the Athens-Thessaloniki route, in which 57 people died on the last day of February, could bring turbulent times to Greece.