Greece’s conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ party was on course for a decisive victory in Sunday’s general election but fell short of the majority needed to lead a one-party government, setting the stage for another vote in a few weeks since mr. Mitsotakis seemed to rule out forming a governing coalition.
Mitsotakis described the preliminary result as a “political earthquake” that called for an “experienced hand at the helm” of Greece and said that Any negotiations with divergent potential coalition partners would only lead to an impasse.
with 93.7% of the votes have been counted On Sunday night and his New Democracy party leading the opposition Syriza by 20 percentage points, Mitsotakis greeted a crowd of cheering supporters outside his party’s office in Athens.
“We have kept the country upright and laid the foundation for a better nation,” he said. “Together we will fight the next battle so that in the next elections what we already decided, an autonomous New Democracy, will become a reality.”
New Democracy had won 40.8 percent of the vote on Sunday night, preliminary results showed, after calling on Greeks to opt for economic and political stability over “chaos” in a tense campaign. The center-left Syriza party, led by Alexis Tsipras, under whose mandate Greece came close to exiting the eurozone in 2015, came second, with 20 percent of the vote. The Pasok-Kinal Socialist Party came in third, securing 11.6 percent.
Mr. Tsipras said in a statement that he had called to congratulate Mr. Mitsotakis for his victory and that his party would meet to discuss the result as a second election seemed all but assured.
On Monday, when the final result is clear, the leading party will get a mandate to try to form a government. But it seemed highly likely that the prime minister would not explore that option, leading to new elections, most likely in June or early July. That vote would be held under a different system, which gives additional seats to the winning party, giving New Democracy a better chance of forming an independent government.
New Democracy was on track to win 145 seats in the 300-seat Parliament, with 72 seats for Syriza, preliminary results showed. Syriza’s poor performance led to speculation in the Greek media about the center-left party’s future.
“It reflects the total collapse of Syriza’s strategy, its perpetual drift to the right, a hegemonic position on the left that deepened confusion and demoralization,” said Seraphim Seferiades, professor of politics and history at the Panteion University of Athens.
He also pointed to the high abstention rate of more than 40 percent: turnout was 60 percent, preliminary results showed.
The absence of an outright winner had been expected, as the election was held under a simple proportional representation system, which makes it difficult for a single party to take power.
Adding to the ambiguity are three factors: one in 10 undecided voters; the approximately 440,000 young people who had the right to vote for the first time; and 3 percent of the electorate who had supported a party founded by the jailed spokesman of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, who was banned from running.
In his campaign speech in Athens on Friday night, Mitsotakis pointed to his government’s success in boosting growth (now double the eurozone average), attracting investment and strengthening the country’s defenses amid a difficult period with neighboring Turkey.
“This is not the time for experiments that lead nowhere,” he said, adding that achieving an investment-grade rating, which would allow Greece to lower its borrowing costs, requires a stable government.
Mitsotakis also made no apologies for Greece’s tough stance on migration, which has included increased border controls and led to a 90 percent drop in migrant arrivals since 2015. Although his government has been criticized by human rights groups for illegally turning migrants back at sea and creating prison-like camps, many Greeks have welcomed the reduced influx. Migrants overwhelmed Greece’s resources at the height of Europe’s migration crisis.
“Greece has borders, and those borders must be guarded,” Mitsotakis told a crowd of supporters waving Greek flags on Friday.
Mr Tsipras, for his part, had campaigned for change. He highlighted a perceived abuse of power by the current administration, including a wiretapping scandal, and drew attention to the rising cost of living, which opinion polls show is the main concern of most voters.
Before voting on Sunday, Tsipras called on Greeks to “leave behind an arrogant government that does not feel the needs of the many”.
His message was convincing to 17-year-old Elisavet Dimou, who voted for the first time Sunday at a school in central Athens. She said she had been swayed by Syriza’s promise of “change” and “justice”.
“Syriza also made mistakes, but they didn’t spy on half the country,” he said, referring to reports that the wiretapping scandal had swept away dozens of politicians, journalists and businessmen.
Another factor in his choice of Syriza was the deadly train crash in central Greece in February that killed 57 people, including many students. “They had their whole lives ahead of them and they died because those in power didn’t care enough to fix the trains,” he said.
Public outrage over the crash briefly dented New Democracy’s lead in the opinion polls, but that rebounded as supporters appeared to console themselves with promises of stability and continued prosperity.
One supporter, Sakis Farantakis, a 54-year-old hairdresser owner, said: “It’s far from perfect, but it’s the only safe option. We’ve made progress – why go back to uncertainty?”
Mitsotakis has argued that a one-party government would be preferable to a coalition arrangement to ensure stability and reassure investors. Economic growth has consolidated in Greece after a decade of financial crisis that ended in 2018.
It has little choice of partners. The socialist Pasok party had been considered the only realistic candidate for a coalition with New Democracy. But the admission of Mr. Mitsotakis’ revelation last year that Greece’s state surveillance agency had spied on Pasok leader Nikos Androulakis strained ties between the men and cast a shadow over any prospect of cooperation.
A left-led administration had been another possibility. Syriza had been courting Pasok for a coalition that would likely require a third party, likely Mera25. This party, led by Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Mr. Tsipras appeared to have failed to win a seat in Parliament with the majority of votes counted.
Mr Androulakis had kept his intentions unclear, declaring that both sides were unreliable and that neither Mr Mitsotakis nor Mr Tsipras should lead any coalition government. Mr. Androulakis called Sunday afternoon to congratulate Mr. Mitsotakis.
