Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ right-wing party New Democracy (EPP) won a landslide victory in Greece’s general election on Sunday, securing an absolute majority that will allow the leader to begin a new term as prime minister.
New Democracy (ND), in power since 2019, won 40.5% of the vote, over double that of its main opponent, the left-wing party Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras.
Syriza, which already suffered a stinging setback in the first round five weeks ago, won just 17.8% of the vote, 2.2 points down on May 21. This result should secure the right-wing party 158 seats out of the 300 in the unicameral Greek Parliament.
With such a result, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a 55-year-old who comes from a renowned Greek political family, was reelected as Prime Minister on Sunday. The results have come as a surprise to many, who assumed that the multiple scandals that surfaced during Mitsotakis' term would have impacted his campaign.
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“The people, for the second time in a few weeks, have given us a strong mandate to move forward towards the major changes the country needs,” the 55-year-old leader congratulated himself on Sunday evening in front of his supporters. “All Greece is blue!” he also launched in front of his jubilant supporters, referring to the colour of his party.
Four years after coming to power, New Democracy have bettered their result of the 2019 election, when it obtained 39.85% of the vote.
Eight parties are expected to cross the 3% threshold needed to enter parliament, according to these partial results, including the far-right “Spartans” party, backed by a former executive of the neo-Nazi outfit Golden Dawn, Ilias Kassidiaris, who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence.
Myriad of scandals
The resounding win comes in spite of the multiple scandals that have crippled Greece, including the most recent migrant shipwreck where 81 people lost their lives just off the Aegean coast. Survivors and NGOs have accused Greek authorities of playing a role in the deaths by towing the boat, which caused it to capsize.
The Greek premier himself had been under fire both internationally and domestically for his role at the heart of a large illegal spyware scandal: Mitsotakis is accused of having been involved in the spying of opposition politicians, journalists, business leaders, and even his own ministers, by using insidious software.
Additionally, the railway accident near the town of Larissa in late February triggered nationwide demonstrations after a collision between two trains killed 57 people. Many Greeks blamed the Mitsotakis government for neglecting to invest in the maintenance and modernisation of Greek railways.
