Greek elections: Opposition ND wins landslide victory

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) – Greece's main opposition New Democracy party (ND) has scored a clear victory in snap general elections on Sunday, according to an unofficial count released by the country’s Interior Ministry.

So far 92% of the votes were counted. Out of which Center-right ND has secured 40% of the votes, thus claiming 158 seats in the 300-member Greek parliament. The ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to be the new prime minister.

Speaking after his election victory at the party headquarters, Mitsotakis said he had promised to decrease the taxes and create new jobs. He said this will be achieved by working together.

"I know the difficulties but I derive my power from the people," he said.

Ruling Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), secured the second place, bagging just 32% of the votes. They party will have 86 deputies in the new House.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in a press conference, while accepting the defeat, said he greeted Mitsotakis for his victory, in a phone call.

Tsipras said they will be a "strong main opposition" and will work to come to power once again.

Other four parties, center-left Movement for Change, Communist Party of Greece (KKE), right-wing Greek Solution of Kyriakos Velopoulos and MeRA25 of former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, also secured to pass the election threshold of 3% to elect deputies, according to the results.

On the other hand, far-right Golden Dawn party stood just below the election threshold, receiving 2.95% of the popular votes. It will not be able to send its deputies to the House.

In Western Thrace region of Greece, which is home to a sizable Muslim Turkish minority, four deputies made it to the Greek Parliament. Two of them are from Syriza and two others from the Movement for Change, according to the results.

The snap elections had become necessary, after Tsipras had requested the dissolution of parliament following ruling party’s poor performance in the European Union elections held in last May. His party finished second, runner-up to the ND.

Tsipras had promised to form an anti-bailout government, but disappointed many of his supporters by imposing more austerity measures and extra taxes. He had served as premier since 2015. His tenure was marked by economic difficulties, and the controversial name agreement with Greece’s neighbor North Macedonia.

Tsipras, however, won praise from the Western leaders over the name change, which allowed the former Macedonia to seek the NATO and the EU membership. The move faced criticism at home, especially from the conservative groups.

In 2015, his party stormed to power, after Greece buckled under painful economic reforms and austerity measures, forcing it to sign a package to receive €260 billion ($291.87 billion) rescue funds from the Eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund.

Mitsotakis, 51, the son of former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, will take over as new premier on Monday, after a handover ceremony to be held in the prime minister’s office around noon.

* Magda Panoutsopoulou contributed from Athens.