World News | Conservative Party of Greek Prime Minister in Big Election Lead, to Seek Outright Majority
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose conservative party has won a landslide election but without enough parliamentary seats to form a government, indicated late Sunday that he will seek a second election to consolidate his victory without the need for a coalition partner.
Athens, May 22 (AP) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose conservative party has won a landslide election but without enough parliamentary seats to form a government, indicated late Sunday that he will seek a second election to consolidate his victory without the need for a coalition partner.
Mitsotakis' New Democracy party was 20 percentage points ahead of its main rival, the left-wing Syriza party, with nearly 90 per cent of the votes counted.
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But due to the current electoral system of proportional representation, his 40 per cent vote share was still not enough to secure a majority of the 300 seats in parliament, meaning he would either have to seek a coalition partner from a smaller party, or head to a second election.
"From tomorrow, I will follow all constitutional procedures, but maintaining my firm view that the mathematics of proportional representation is akin to party horse-trading and results in a dead-end," Mitsotakis said.
"Without a doubt, the political earthquake that occurred today calls on us all to speed up the process for a definitive government solution so our country can have an experienced hand at its helm as soon as possible."
A new vote, likely in late June or early July, will be held with a new electoral law which gives bonus seats to the winning party, making it easier for it to form a government on its own.
With nearly two thirds of the vote counted, the left-wing opposition party of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was trailing with 20% of the vote, compared to 40 per cent for Mitsotakis' New Democracy party.
Sunday's election was Greece's first since its economy ceased being under strict supervision by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during the country's nearly decade-long financial crisis.
Tsipras, 48, served as prime minister during some of the most tumultuous years of the crisis, and has struggled to regain the wide support he enjoyed when he was swept to power in 2015 on a promise of reversing bailout-imposed austerity measures. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)