The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was sworn in on Monday for a second consecutive term at the head of the Hellenic government after his party, New Democracy (ND), won the legislative elections on Sunday. ND swept the polls with more than 40% votes vs. 17% which was obtained by the progressive Syriza, the party of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the great loser of the night. A comfortable victory that will allow the conservative leader to govern for the next four years with an absolute majority.
«The Greeks have given us an overwhelming majority to continue on the path of the great changes that our country needs. They have permanently closed a cycle of toxicity that bound our society, “said Mitsotakis in his first intervention after the results were known. “We will enjoy our victory, but starting tomorrow we will roll up our sleeves and continue working to build a more prosperous Greece. I know expectations are high. I want to seek broad consensus. The important reforms will go ahead quickly », he promised.
Mitsotakis received from the president Katerina Sakelaropulu, the task of forming a government and later he was sworn in as prime minister in a ceremony held at the seat of the Greek presidency before the head of state and Archbishop Jerome II of Athens, primate of the Hellenic Orthodox Church. After the oath, the prime minister announced the composition of the new Cabinet, whose members are expected to be sworn in on Tuesday.
This is the second time that the Greeks go to the polls in five weeks after in the elections held in May no party achieved an absolute majority to govern alone. The ND leader gave up negotiating a coalition government to force the electoral repetition. Sunday’s elections were held under a different electoral law that grants a premium of 50 seats to the first game and that favored the re-election of Mitsotakis as head of the Executive despite the fact that the result at the polls was very similar.
Quite the opposite of its main rival, Syriza, which did not reach 20% of the May elections. Tsipras, who was in charge of the Greek government between 2015 and 2019, announced a “reconstruction” process after the crushing defeat against the right. “It goes without saying that in this reconstruction process I will be the first to submit to the judgment of the affiliates,” he announced. “We are going to summon the militancy to judge us all. The result is negative for us, we have suffered a serious electoral defeat, “he acknowledged.
The electoral repetition not only confirmed the victory of the right, but also the entry into Parliament of various far-right parties. Vasily Stigapresident of the ultra Spartans party, heir to the Golden Dawn neo-Nazis, celebrated his electoral success and thanked the support of Ilias Kasidiaris, one of its former leaders, currently in prison. “The Spartans have come to unite, not to divide. After a while there will be a national voice in Parliament, ”he assured.
