Voters cast ballots for Greek legislative election in Athens on May 21, 2023. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

36 parties and party coalitions ran in last Sunday’s elections. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party won 40.8% of the 10 million votes cast. The leftist Syriza party won just 20.1%. The Socialist PASOK party came in third. The New Democracy party fell short of the majority needed to form a new government. Parties will have to form a majority coalition or go to a second round of voting.  

Challenging situation

The legislative elections in Greece took place in a rather unfavorable context for the government and the ruling party. Like almost all other European countries, Greece is suffering adverse socio-economic impacts from the Ukraine crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current mounting difficulties follow a decade of severe impacts from the worst debt crisis in Greece’s history. The economy is weak, the unemployment rate is high, and social welfare has shrunk. The EU removed its financial supervision of Greece last August after 12 years. Recovering Greece’s the economy from the current difficulties will be a daunting task for the new government.

Greek politics has undergone months of tension related to allegations that Prime Minister Mitsotakis's government spied illegally on politicians, journalists, and businessmen. The climax of the scandal was on January 27, when the Greek parliament conducted a vote of confidence on the government at the request of the opposition.

Although the Prime Minister and his cabinet passed the vote of confidence by a narrow margin (156 to 143), the vote revealed serious rifts between political parties and in Greek society.    

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the New Democracy party waves his supporters in Athens (photo: Reuters)

Prospect

Analysts say the legislative election substantiated the worry of the Greek people and many European leaders, that no political party is strong enough to form an independent government. The three biggest parties should now negotiate with each other and the minor parties to put together a ruling alliance. Whichever parties form the government will have to share power and no party will have the ability to make independent decisions.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis declined to seek a coalition on Monday, paving the way for a second vote on June 25 that he hopes his party will win outright. Spokesman for the PASOK Socialist party Dimitris Mantzos said there is no chance parties will cooperate to form a governing coalition. Greece should move on to a new election.

It is likely that the Greek President will have to appoint an interim government to prepare for the second round of voting, a move said to favor Mitsotakis and his New Democratic Party.

The New Democratic Party last year demonstrated its capacity in economic management, achieving a growth rate of 5.1%, much higher than the EU’s average growth rate of 2.6%.