Greek Conservatives win second election and pledge more reforms
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek conservative leader, has beaten his centre-left rival in the second election in a month. He has said he has a “strong mandate” to move faster on the path of change.
Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party (ND) won 40.5% of the national vote – that’s almost 23 points ahead of Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza party.
Although Mitsotakis beat Syriza in May, he had called for new elections in a bid to secure a majority. “ND is today the most powerful centre-right party in Europe,” he told supporters in Athens.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis is widely credited with bringing stability to the Greek economy and growth back to the economy – which had been rocked by severe debt and three international bailouts.
Though the cost of living crisis is rocking Greece, voters have chosen to stick with the party that is promising lower taxes and improved public health.
The vote came just 11 days after the tragic migrant boat incident in which around 500 people are thought to have died.