Greece.. a landslide victory for the conservatives in the legislative elections
Former Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the “strong mandate” granted to him by voters in the legislative elections in which his right-wing party won a landslide victory by winning more than 40 percent of the vote, which guarantees him the premiership for a second term.
Mitsotakis, 55, a graduate of the prestigious American Harvard University and a former consultant at the American McKinsey consulting company, said in a televised statement, “The people gave us a safe majority. There are major reforms that will be implemented quickly.”
The conservative leader made his statement after the results of counting more than 80 percent of the ballot boxes showed that his “New Democracy” party won 40.5 percent of the vote, compared to 17.8 percent for its closest competitor, the left-wing Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras.
US President Joe Biden congratulated Mitsotakis on the victory, saying in a statement, “I look forward to continuing our close cooperation on shared priorities to advance regional prosperity and security.”
Likewise, French President Emmanuel Macron sent his congratulations to the Greek leader, describing him as “France’s friend and partner.” “Let’s continue all the work… for a stronger and more sovereign Europe,” Macron wrote on Twitter.
For his part, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Twitter that the victory of Mitsotakis’ camp was “a sign of political stability that benefits all of Europe.”
Mitsotakis won the elections held on May 21, but he did not get a sufficient majority to allow him to form the new government without building alliances, which prompted him to resort to the polls again and invite 9.8 million voters to cast their votes again.
The elections took place on Sunday according to a different electoral system, which stipulated that the winning party in this ballot would receive a reward of up to fifty additional seats.
Greek voters went to the polls on Sunday to participate in new general elections, the second in five weeks, during which Mitsotakis sought to consolidate his gains and extract an absolute majority that would allow him to form a “stable government.”
Shortly after casting his vote, Mitsotakis said that the Greeks “are voting for the second time in a few weeks in order to have a stable and effective government.”
For his part, Tsipras said Sunday that the vote will determine “whether we will have a government out of control, or if we will achieve a balance in our democracy and our political system.”
In an effort to urge his citizens to vote, Mitsotakis again threatened this week that he would hold a third round if he did not get a sufficient majority on Sunday.
“I hope that we will not have to meet again in early August,” he said on Friday, before the start of the electoral silence, stressing that “this is not a joke… All the gains we have made must be consolidated and continued.”
Mitsotakis, who is the heir to a major political family and the son of a former prime minister, had previously hinted at holding elections in the middle of the summer vacation if he did not achieve his goals, which was condemned by the opposition and the media, which considered this an attempt to “blackmail” the voters.
