Prime Minister-elect Kyriakos Mitsotakis has vowed that Greece will “proudly” enter a post-bailout era of “jobs, security and growth” after his centre-right New Democracy party won a landslide over leftist Syriza, which had been in power since 2015.
With almost all of the votes in Sunday’s snap election counted, official results showed New Democracy gaining 39.85 compared with 31.53 for Syriza, led by outgoing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
“A painful cycle has closed,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address, adding that Greece would “proudly raise its head again” on his watch.
“I will not fail to honour your hopes,” he said as early congratulation calls came from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and outgoing European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
The election result gives New Democracy an outright majority with 158 seats in the 300-member Greek parliament. This marks a significant shift for the crisis-hit country that was run for almost a decade by fragile coalitions of ideologically divergent parties united by their stance either in favour or against Greece’s bailout deals.
“I asked for a strong mandate to change Greece. You offered it generously,” Mitsotakis said in his victory speech. “From today, a difficult but beautiful fight begins.”
For his part, Tsipras said his party’s loss was “anything but a strategic defeat” following an election showing that was much stronger than expected.
“I can assure the Greek people that from the benches of the opposition we will be present to protect the interests of people of toil and creativity,” he said, after calling Mitsotakis to congratulate him on his victory.
The other parties that passed the three percent threshold to enter the Greek parliament were the centre-left Movement for Change (KINAL), at 8.10 percent (22 seats); the Greek Communist Party, at 5.3 percent (15 seats); newcomer Greek Solution, a far-right party, at 3.7 percent (10 seats); and MeRa 25, another recently formed party that is led by Yanis Varoufakis, a former Syriza finance minister, at 3.44 percent (nine seats).
The official handover of power will take place on Monday, when Mitsotakis, 51, will be sworn in as Greece’s new prime minister.
