by Renee Maltezou
ATHENS, May 19 (Reuters) – No party looks set to secure an outright majority in Greece’s legislative elections on Sunday, setting the stage for tough coalition talks and possibly a second ballot, probably in early July.
The ruling conservative party, New Democracy, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is credited by the polls with 32 to 37% of the vote ahead of the left-wing Syriza party of former head of government Alexis Tsipras, in power from 2015 to 2019, which would collect between 27% and 31%.
The Pasok, the socialist party, ranks third with 8 to 11% of the voting intentions.
Under the proportional voting system, it is estimated that approximately 46% is the threshold necessary to obtain an absolute majority in the unicameral Parliament of 300 seats.
At the end of the elections, if the polls are confirmed, each of the three main parties will be given a three-day mandate in turn to try to form a government.
In theory, New Democracy and Pasok, who already put aside their historic animosity to govern Greece during the debt crisis in the early 2010s, could ally themselves but Kyriakos Mitsotakis seemed to rule that out, saying this week in an interview with Reuters that he favored “a strong one-party government”.
“Experience has taught us in Greece that one-party governments are much more stable than coalition governments,” noted the 55-year-old outgoing Prime Minister.
The once all-powerful Pasok saw its support plummet after signing Greece’s first international bailout in 2010. Since 2021 it has been attempting a comeback under new leader Nikos Androulakis, aged 44 years old.
The social-democrat party has sent mixed signals about its participation in a coalition government.
“If Mitsotakis or Tsipras think Pasok will be their crutch for power, they should look elsewhere,” Nikos Androulakis told supporters May 17.
Pasok notably accuses Syriza of making untenable promises.
Syriza, which introduced the proportional voting system when it was in power, says it wants to try to form a broad government coalition.
Polls suggest that Syriza would have to ally itself with more than two parties, including Pasok, to obtain a majority. Another possible partner would be the small party of Alexis Tsipras’ former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, Mera25, but the two men have been cold since Varoufakis’ resignation in 2015, conceded by Tsipras to land a third bailout plan with international donors.
The Communist Party, credited with 5-6% of the vote, ruled out participating in a coalition or supporting a minority government in Parliament.
The far-right Greek Solution party led by TV host Kyriakos Velopoulos has rejected any alliance with New Democracy or Syriza.
(Reporting and writing Renee Maltezou, with contributions from Angeliki Koutantou and Deborah Kyvrikosaios; French version Gaëlle Sheehan, editing by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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