(Athens) The right-wing party of Kyriakos Mitsotakis won a landslide victory in Greece’s legislative elections on Sunday, but a second ballot will be needed to guarantee it a stable government.
New Democracy (ND) led by the outgoing Prime Minister won 40.8% of the vote, according to partial results covering 85% of polling stations.
It is very clearly ahead of the left of former head of government Alexis Tsipras, which won only 20% of the vote, ahead of the socialist party Pasok-Kinal which recorded a score of 11.6%.
Hailing with his victory “a political earthquake”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in charge since 2019, paved the way for a second ballot which could be held at the end of June or the beginning of July and would allow him, if he confirms this performance, to win a majority. absolute.
Thanks to a different electoral system, the winning party would then obtain a “bonus” of up to 50 seats.
According to projections on Sunday evening, his party wins 145 of the 300 seats of deputies, six seats less than the absolute majority.
Confirmation
Shortly after, addressing his jubilant supporters, he assured: “together we will fight tomorrow so that in the next elections what the citizens have already decided, namely an autonomous ND, is mathematically confirmed”.
During his election campaign, Kyriakos Mitsotakis ruled out forming a coalition in a country whose political culture is not based on compromise.
For his part, the former prime minister of the radical left Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, noting his defeat, called on his sympathizers to carry out a “second crucial electoral struggle”.
PHOTO LOUISA GOULIAMAKI, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
But the 48-year-old leader, who has largely refocused Syriza in recent years, has suffered a heavy failure, he who had promised “change”.
The Greeks have never really forgiven him for having crossed swords with the European Union during the stormy negotiations for the granting of a rescue plan in 2015 to the point of precipitating the country on the verge of leaving the euro . Before capitulating and having to implement drastic austerity measures dictated by Greece’s creditors.
“stronger country”
During his election campaign, Mr. Mitsotakis, a Harvard graduate and son of a former prime minister, never ceased to brandish his economic record.
Before his victory, he assured that he wanted to make Greece “a stronger country with an important role in Europe”.
Falling unemployment, growth of almost 6% last year, return of investments and surge in tourism, the economy has picked up again after the years of crisis and strict austerity.
His opponent, who in 2015 embodied the hopes of the radical left in Europe, had wanted to see in these elections “a day of hope” to “turn the page” on a government “arrogant and not interested in the most numerous “.
The decline in purchasing power and the difficulties of making ends meet remain the main concerns of the Greeks. And inflation came close to 10% last year, further aggravating the difficulties of the population.
The country is still suffering from a public debt of more than 170% of its GDP.
“There is a part of the population condemned to go hungry,” lamented Giorgos Koulouris, a 60-year-old miner. “Children go abroad, scientists […] leave because they cannot live in Greece with stagnating wages and skyrocketing rents”.
At the end of February, the train disaster that killed 57 people awoke the anger that has been eating away at Greece since the crisis and triggered demonstrations against the government accused of negligence.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a conservative from the world of finance
PHOTO LOUIZA VRADI, REUTERS
The outgoing Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
The outgoing Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is a liberal conservative who has promoted economic recovery but is also accused of worrying breaches of the rule of law.
Less than three months earlier, he was still in turmoil, crushed for his management deemed calamitous of the rail disaster which left 57 dead and triggered a wave of anger in the country.
In his first term, he gave a boost to a still-recovering economy when he came to power after the financial meltdown and bailouts.
At the head of a large real estate heritage which he inherited, he reduced taxation on large properties.
He also took advantage of his four years to bring together within his training the nationalist wing and the liberal current that he represents.
Coming from a large Cretan political family, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, is the youngest son of former Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis (1990-1993).
His sister Dora Bakoyannis was notably Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mayor of Athens. One of his nephews is the current mayor of the Greek capital, another was his chief of staff until the summer of 2022.
A graduate of Harvard American University, he first pursued a career as a financial adviser in London, notably at McKinsey, then in Athens, before taking up the family political torch.
He was elected MP for the ND for the first time in 2004 before assuming ministerial portfolios in various conservative governments.
Appointed Minister of Administrative Reform at the height of the Greek crisis (2013-2015), he proceeded to massive staff reductions in the civil service as part of the austerity cure dictated by the country’s creditors.
He became president of the ND in 2016, a year after the defeat of his camp defeated by the left of Alexis Tsipras.
MTB and Netflix
This tall man, with salt-and-pepper hair, uncomfortable in crowds, tries to correct his image by appearing in casual clothes on his campaign trips, in a white shirt, without a tie, or in hooded jacket.
He also allows himself to be photographed with his wife Mareva Grabowski and their three children and does not hesitate to pour out in the media on the marital crisis he has gone through.
PHOTO PETROS GIANNAKOURIS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The outgoing Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis (right) and his wife, Mareva Grabowski (left)
“When I really want to relax […]I watch Emily in Paris “, the series on Netflix, he confided.
Omnipresent on social networks, he campaigned on TikTok – while prohibiting his ministers from using it – and answered questions from a young YouTuber.
In full strict confinement during the pandemic, a photo showing him pedaling his mountain bike on a mountain near Athens caused a scandal. His opponents, in the first place Alexis Tsipras, reproach him for his “arrogance”.
“Robust economy”
He campaigned by touting the “robust economy” driven by 5.9% growth in 2022 thanks in part to the booming tourism sector. Greece has also benefited from one of the largest European aid packages during the pandemic to ward off business losses.
The president of the Eurogroup, the Irishman Paschal Donohoe, assured that Greece had thanks to Mr. Mitsotakis “more solid economic bases than any previous government for a long time”.
But his critics also denounce a turn of the security screw.
The reinforcement of the police force, the locking of the borders to fight against the “invasion” of migrants, in his words, have earned him strong criticism.
The illegal wiretapping scandal targeting journalists and politicians, including socialist leader Nikos Androulakis, also rocked his government in the summer of 2022.
Freedom of the press has also experienced a worrying decline in Greece, which has become the bottom of the European Union, behind Hungary and Poland, in the Reporters Without Borders ranking.
Arrested, the person concerned brushed aside the criticism, calling this barometer “shit”.