2023-05-21 20:23:07
Mitsotakis assesses the “political earthquake” and Tsipras acknowledges an “extremely negative” result
PASOK leader celebrates his results and criticizes both SYRIZA and ND
MADRID, 22 (EUROPA PRESS)
The conservative New Democracy party (ND) has won the legislative elections held this Sunday in Greece with more than 40 percent of the vote, although the distribution of seats provides an insufficient majority that leads the country to new elections, according to official data once counted 96.03 percent of the votes. The prime minister and leader of the ND, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has described the result as a “political earthquake”.
Specifically, the ND party has achieved 40.79 percent of the vote and 145 of the 300 seats in Parliament; the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYIRIZA), 20.07 percent and 72 seats; the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK), 11.52 and 41 deputies; the Communist Party of Greece (KKE, 7.21 percent and 26 seats) and Rumbo a la Libertad (Plefsi Eleftherias, 4.45 percent and 16 seats). The rest of formations would not obtain parliamentary representation.
These data place Mitsotakis on the verge of an absolute majority, since he would win 11 fewer seats than in the 2019 elections, and the Greek press has already begun to speculate on June 25 as a possible date for the rerun of the elections.
The leader of New Democracy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has appeared at a press conference and has highlighted the “political earthquake” that these results represent, with ND as the “undisputed winner” and has expressed his intention to obtain support to govern for the next four years.
“ND has the support to govern alone and solidly. That is what the voters have asked for today in an absolutely clear way. They have asked to move faster on the path of progress,” he said, according to Skai public television.
For this reason, he has advocated for a “strong government” that applies the “necessary reforms”, an “experienced hand” that achieves the objectives of Greece by 2027 with “continuous improvements”. “Hope has defeated pessimism and unity has defeated division. Today the circle closes and a new one opens in which we will go together with confidence”, he stressed.
The leader of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, has acknowledged for his part that it is an “extremely negative” result for his formation and has advocated making changes quickly to be able to fight in the next battle, referring to the more than probable repetition of the elections. .
“The result of the elections is extremely negative for us. We need to make changes quickly to fight the next critical battle in the best possible conditions. I thank those who voted for us from the bottom of my heart,” Tsipras said. .
The other side of the coin is that of the historic PASOK, which has celebrated the good results obtained, although it has given no clues about possible support for another formation to try to form a government.
Socialist President Nikos Androulakis has criticized both SYRIZA and ND, whom he blames for increasing social inequalities in the country and for ruling in the interests of “the powerful few”, causing a worsening of the fiscal situation.
“The state of Mitsotakis’ staff has turned out to be the wrapper for a para-state of wiretapping and widespread corruption. The only reason New Democracy hasn’t paid for all this at the ballot box is its ‘golden’ backer, whose name and address is Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA”, he declared, according to the Greek public television channel ERT.
GOVERNMENT FORMATION
The next institutional step corresponds to the president of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who will commission the party with the most votes to test the rest of the formations to try to forge some kind of alliance. In the event that she does not succeed, the task will go to the second party with the most votes and, if she fails again, to the third.
After three failed attempts, the Greeks will be called to the polls again, after the appointment of an interim administration headed by a representative of the judicial system.
In this second appointment with the polls, the pure proportional system in force in these elections would be set aside and the model promoted by Mitsotakis would be applied and in which the premium for the party with the most votes is recovered: 20 more seats in case of obtaining 25 percent of the votes, with a margin to expand up to 50, a formula to facilitate governability.
Analysts take it for granted that this second appointment with the polls will be necessary, although the parties will have to measure their movements to avoid being singled out as responsible for the lack of consensus. For New Democracy, one of the most complex scenarios would involve an agreement with PASOK in a kind of grand coalition.
Mitsotakis in principle rules out this collaboration and the Social Democratic leader, Nikos Androulakis, has charged ink against the conservatives after knowing that he was spied on by the Intelligence services. PASOK, however, does not close doors with either New Democracy or SYRIZA, conditioning any future support on the adoption of part of its political program, in a timid attempt to recover its historic influence on the Greek political scene.
#Democracy #remains #gates #absolute #majority #Greece