Greece will elect a new parliament on Sunday. However, many people have long been disillusioned with Greek politics. The news ticker.
- Elections in Greece: Mitsotakis and his party are ahead in the polls
- Parliamentary elections in Greece: Prime Minister Mitsotakis against challenger Tsipras
- Confidence of the population damaged: wiretapping scandal, train accident and freedom of the press overshadow election
- This news ticker on the Greek elections is updated regularly.
Athens - On Sunday (21 May), Greece will elect a new parliament. According to polls, incumbent Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his conservative party are ahead. His challenger, former left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, is six percentage points behind him. Observers expect that no party will achieve a majority capable of governing. The Greek election is overshadowed by a number of problems.
Greek election: Mitsotaki's party is ahead in the polls - One in ten undecided
Around ten million Greeks will be allowed to vote on Sunday, including almost 440,000 first-time voters aged 16 and over. One in ten eligible voters was still undecided. Many people have long been disillusioned with Greek politics. Mitsotaki's party "New Democracy" is polling at 57.33 percent of the vote despite the serious train accident at the end of February with 6 dead and the subsequent protests. Relatives of victims of the train accident even filed criminal charges against the incumbent prime minister. They blame the government for the poor condition of the railway network and thus also for the serious accident.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis (r), Prime Minister of Greece, and Alexis Tsipras (l), leader of the main opposition party, Syriza. © Thanassis Stavrakis/dpa
Tsipras's Syriza party is polling at up to 26.9 percent. A total of 300 parliamentary seats are to be distributed. But under the proportional representation system that is still in force, no party is likely to achieve a majority capable of governing. Observers are therefore already expecting a new election at the beginning of July. Then a new electoral law would take effect, which would give the winner of the election additional seats.
Parliamentary elections in Greece: Mitsotakis against Tsipras
Mitsotakis warned of a stalemate at a time of international uncertainty. The 55-year-old, who has been prime minister since 2019, is hoping for a tailwind from his policy of tax cuts, a revival of tourism after the Corona pandemic and continuous growth of 5.9 percent in 2022. However, the positive figures conceal low salaries, an exodus of young people abroad and the continuing consequences of the austerity policies imposed by the European Union during the financial and debt crisis. Tsipras led the negotiations with the EU in 2015.
The "Pasok-Kinal" party, founded by former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, is being touted as a coalition partner for both Mitsotakis and Tsipras. Party leader Nikos Androulakis did not want to make a coalition statement before the election. Mitsotakis' party has promised to raise the minimum wage to €1000,<>, fight unemployment and invest in Greece's healthcare system, which has been severely strained by the pandemic. "I have always been convinced that it takes two four-year terms to change Greece," Mitsotakis said in April.
Tsipras wants to increase the education budget, raise the salaries of civil servants and health workers, and fight inflation, for which he blames "cartels" in the country. "Greece has Bulgarian wages and British prices," he said last week.
Greek election: wiretapping scandal, train accident and freedom of the press damage trust
Tsipras and Syriza promise to restore confidence in the state. The wiretapping scandal at the Greek secret service, in which Mitsotakis' government is accused of wiretapping its own members of the government, opposition MPs, journalists, businessmen and army chiefs, has left its mark on the population. The serious train accident in February also continues to keep people busy. In addition, Greece is accused of extrajudicially deporting refugees and other migrants, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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Freedom of the press is restricted in Greece. According to the organization Reporters Without Borders, Greece ranks 107th out of 180, even behind Qatar (105th). Since Mitsotakis' party won the 2019 elections, the state news agency ANA-MPA and the public broadcaster ERT have been directly subordinated to the prime minister. (vk/afp)