Conservatives fail to clinch majority despite landslide win
ATHENS: Greece is heading toward a new general election, two days after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ centre-right New Democracy party won a landslide victory in a national vote but failed in clinch a majority in parliament.
A power-sharing deal was put mathematically out of reach Tuesday, after the main opposition party formally received and summarily rejected an invitation to try and form the country’s next government.
Mitsotakis’ had swiftly ruled out seeking a coalition, opting instead for a second election, expected on June 25. That would introduce a change in the electoral system that favours the winning party and likely hand him an outright victory.
The 55-year-old Mitsotakis won just over 40 per cent of the vote Sunday, hammering his main opponent by 20 points. He has promised to continue pro-business reforms, tough policies to combat illegal migration, and high defence spending as Greece recovers from a major financial crisis in the previous decade.
Under Greece’s constitution, the first three parties are awarded up to three days each to try and form a government before parliament is dissolved and a new election is called.
The left-wing Syriza party, led by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, suffered a major defeat at the polls Sunday was obliged to reject the mandate for form a government when received Tuesday by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
“I have no reason to hide that the election result is a painful shock for us. Unexpected and painful,” Tsipras told reporters after the meeting. The 48-year-old opposition leader now faces a challenge from the third-placed centreleft Pasok party that once dominated Greek politics, but saw its popular support plummet during the financial crisis and a series of painful international bailouts. Tsipras said he wasn’t considering stepping down, and promised to fight on to try and curb the dominance of the conservatives.