Centre-right leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been formally sworn in as Greece’s prime minister after easily winning a second term with a record margin over the left-wing opposition, but also facing a parliament that includes legislators from new far-right parties.
With 99.7 per cent of the vote counted, his New Democracy party had 40.55 per cent — more than twice the main opposition Syriza party’s 17.84 per cent. It was the largest margin of victory in a Greek election in half a century and slightly expanded New Democracy’s 20 percentage point lead in an election held five weeks earlier.
Mr Mitsotakis (55) was sworn in after Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou formally gave him the mandate to govern.
“My aim was to secure a stable government with a parliamentary majority. Unfortunately, two elections were needed for that,” he said in a televised meeting with Ms Sakellaropoulou.
“I have committed to implement major, deeply needed reforms over the next four years, (and) have a strong mandate to do that.”
ND won in 58 of the country’s 59 electoral regions, capturing traditional socialist and left-wing strongholds, some for the first time.
Mr Mitsotakis spoke with Ms Sakellaropoulou about the “surprise” election showings by four marginal parties — three from the far right and one from the far left. Their entry raises the number of political groups represented in parliament from five to eight.
“I think our democracy is mature enough to handle whatever temporary turbulence (ensues),” the prime minister said.
Held under a new electoral law that boosts the first party, Sunday’s vote gave ND a comfortable majority of 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, with Syriza getting 48. A May election had failed to provide Mr Mitsotakis with a majority due to the electoral system then in force, which prompted the new vote.
The centre-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, elected 32 legislators and the Stalinist-rooted Communist Party got 20.
The remaining 42 seats will be shared between three far-right parties — including one endorsed by a jailed former senior official in a defunct, Nazi-inspired party — and a fourth party representing the far-left.
Mr Mitsotakis campaigned on a platform of securing economic growth and political stability, cutting taxes and boosting incomes as Greece gradually recovers from a nearly decade-long financial crisis.
Greek government bonds are still rated below investment grade, although that is widely expected to change this year amid a booming economy and the prospect of stable government.
Mr Mitsotakis faces several challenges. He must maintain the economic rebound amid a cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine, and improve relations with neighbouring Turkey which nosedived in 2020 over offshore gas drilling rights but has stabilised in recent months.
His new cabinet announced on Monday largely rotated key members of his previous government.
Harvard-educated Mr Mitsotakis comes from one of Greece’s most prominent political families. His late father, Constantine Mitsotakis, was prime minister in the 1990s, his sister was a foreign minister and his nephew is the mayor of Athens.
Despite scandals late in his first term, including revelations of wiretapping targeting senior politicians and journalists and a deadly February 28th train crash that exposed poor safety measures in public transport, voters returned to power a prime minister who delivered economic growth and lowered unemployment.
His first government pursued a tough border policy, greatly reducing the flow of people smuggling boats, but has been accused of illegally deporting migrants back to Turkey, which it has denied.
His main rival, 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, was prime minister from 2015 to 2019 during the height of Greece’s financial crisis. Despite the election result, he has shown no inclination to resign as party leader and there have been no open calls from within his party for him to do so.
All three of the far-right parties that crossed the 3 per cent support threshold required to enter parliament oppose immigration. The issue did not receive much attention in pre-election campaigning despite a June 14th shipwreck of a migrant boat that left more than 500 people missing and feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea off Greece.
