“The people, for the second time in a few weeks, have given us a strong mandate to move the country forward towards the changes it needs”exclaimed conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his party’s headquarters, facing a crowd of supporters waving Greek, blue and white flags. With more than 40% of the votes, the outgoing Prime Minister won his bet and obtained 158 seats out of 300 in Parliament, allowing him to have an absolute majority in order to form a stable government.
After four years in power, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had already won a landslide victory at the end of May with 40.79% of the vote, double that of the main left-wing opposition party, Syriza. But due to a total proportional vote, he had not been able to form a government alone and, refusing any alliance, had called new elections. On Sunday June 25, the different voting system enabled him to obtain 50 additional seats.
“Since 1974, that is to say the post-dictatorship period [1967-1974]it is unheard of in Greece for a party to obtain more than 40% of the vote with a second opposition party at less than 20%”notes Manos Papazoglou, associate professor of political science at the University of Peloponnese.
Turning the page on the economic crisis
Former left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who wanted to put an end to the austerity plans imposed by Brussels and the International Monetary Fund in 2015, recorded a crushing defeat, with nearly 18% of the vote against more than 31% in 2019 In Parliament, half of Syriza’s deputies are not reappointed. The Socialist Party records 12% and the surprise is the election of several deputies from three small far-right parties. The Spartans, a party supported by the former executive of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, Ilias Kassidiaris, currently in prison after being sentenced for “belonging to a criminal organization”, won 13 seats and revived the specters of the economic crisis.
“The fragmentation of the opposition, with left-wing parties that cannot get along, is worrying, because it will not be able to control parliamentary work and exercise audible criticism of the government”, specifies Manos Papazoglou. For the political scientist, Syriza will be focused on healing its wounds in the coming months. The difficult succession of Alexis Tsipras, who has led the party since 2008, should be quickly discussed. Sunday, June 25, the sad mine, the former troublemaker of the left announced: “I will submit to the decision of the party members”.
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