Greece votes in repeat poll with former PM seeking second term

Voters in Greece head to a repeat election on Sunday (June 25) where former prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking a second term to form the government. Polling stations would open at 7 am (0400 GMT) across Greece and close 12 hours later, according to a report by the news agency Reuters. The results are expected by 1700 GMT.

Mitsotakis is projected to win comfortably, but his rival Alexis Tsipras is hoping to deprive him of an absolute majority.

Mitsotakis’ New Democratic party won the election on May 21, twenty points clear of Tsipras’ Syriza party. However, it fell short of the majority needed to rule without forming a coalition. As election rules this time would accord up to 50 bonus seats to the winner of the vote, the New Democracy party is widely projected to emerge victorious.

A report by the news agency AFP said that Mitsotakis urged supporters to turn up at the election and warned of a possibility of a third election if he failed to get a majority. “I hope we don’t have to meet again in early August,” he told a TV channel, adding “All the gains we have made must be consolidated and continued.”

Mitsotakis, who had been serving Greece’s PM since 2019, stepped down in favour of a caretaker premier after the inconclusive vote last month, as required by the constitution.

What do the opinion polls say?

Opinion polls in the run-up to the election suggested that Mitsotakis would win with 40-45 per cent. If accurate, that would give him up to 50 bonus seats for the winner, facilitating the formation of a single-party government.

Give Greece a stable govt: Mitsotakis

On Friday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged voters to give Greece a stable government. “In uncertain times the country needs certain handling, it needs a government which will not be dependent on fragile majorities, which will not be dependent on lobbies, which will not be dependent on the balance of powers,” the former PM said during his final campaign rally in Athens. 

Mitsotakis also said he would increase the minimum wage and pensions, provide tax breaks, and improve the country’s health and education systems.

Migrant shipwreck sidelines other issues in run-up to poll

Sunday’s election is happening in the shadow of the June 14 migrant shipwreck which killed at least 82 people, with hundreds more feared missing and unlikely to be found. Reuters reported that the disaster sidelined other issues in the run-up to the election, including a cost of living crisis, and a deadly rail crash in February. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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