Greece General Election: Conservative PM Mitsotakis May Secure Power As Greeks Vote For Second Poll In 2 Months

The election comes after the one in May after the Conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party won but had failed to acquire enough parliamentary seats to form a government.

A woman casts her vote for the general election at a polling station in Athens, Greece

Source : Getty

Greece voted for the second time on Sunday with early trends showing a win for the conservative party. The election comes less than two months after the Conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party won in May but had failed to acquire enough parliamentary seats to form the government. The Harvard graduate was five seats short to form a single party government. A report by AP says that the new electoral law now provides bonus seats to the winning party and Mitsotakis is hoping to have a strong majority in the parliament.

A report by AFP says that Mitsotakis, who hails from an influential political family, is credited with steering the country out of the Covid-19 pandemic to two years of strong growth.

While early indication points to voters favouring the party, there is still a danger of a larger share of voters not turning up for the polls. The report says that the leader even warned of a third election if he fails to get a majority.

"I hope we don't have to meet again in early August. All the gains we have made must be consolidated and continued," said Mitsotakis while speaking to Skai TV hours adding that "this is no joke".

His main opponent is Alexis Tsipras, leader of the left-wing Syriza party who served as the PM from 2015-2019 which was marked by turbulent financial crisis. In 2019 he lost to Mitsotakis. Tsipras also faces the challenge of facing new parties created by his former associates.

The election also comes close to the heel of the tragic shipwreck that left hundreds of migrants dead or missing off the coast of Greece after an overcrowded fishing trawler heading from Libya to Italy capsized and sank.

The shipwreck drew criticism over how Greek authorities handled the rescue, as well as over the country’s restrictive migration policy.