Skip to main content

Greeces conservatives win landslide victory in elections

Greece’s conservative New Democracy party won a landslide victory in Sunday elections, handing its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis a second term as prime minister. 

New Democracy’s win in Greece’s second election in five weeks inflicted a stinging defeat on their main rivals, the left-wing Syriza party.

Near complete results show New Democracy has won just over 40.5% of the vote while the Syriza, was struggling to reach 18% – 2 percentage points lower than the last elections in May.

"With today's electoral result, Greece opens a new, historic chapter in its course," Mitsotakis said in a televised statement. Voters, he said, "gave us a strong mandate to move faster on the course of the big changes our country needs. In a loud and mature way they have permanently closed a traumatic cycle of lies and toxicity that held the country back and divided society."

NIGERIAN PRESIDENT REPLACES ALL SECURITY CHIEFS IN MAJOR SHAKEUP

His second term as prime minister "can transform Greece at a dynamic pace of development which will increase salaries and reduce inequality, with better and free public health care, with a more effective and digital state and a strong country," he added.

Three smaller parties, meanwhile, were set to gain national representation. They included the Spartans and the ultra-religious Niki party, which has a base of support among the Greek Orthodox Church. 

Mitsotakis' party was projected to win 158 of Parliament's 300 seats, thanks to a change in the electoral law that grants the winning party bonus seats. The previous election in May, conducted under a proportional representation system, left him five seats short of a majority despite winning nearly 41% of the vote, and he had decided to seek a stronger mandate in a second election rather than to seek to form a coalition government with a smaller party.

Voter turnout, however, was low on Sunday, at just under 53% of eligible voters, compared to just over 61% in the May vote. 

SERBIA BUCKS US, EU; OPENS PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ARRESTED KOSOVO POLICE OFFICERS

Mitsotakis, 55, campaigned on a platform of securing economic growth and political stability as Greece gradually recovers from a brutal nearly decade-long financial crisis.

His main rival, 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019 — some of the most turbulent years of Greece's financial crisis. His performance Sunday leaves him fighting for his political survival. After his poor showing in May elections, he had struggled to rally his voter base, a task complicated by splinter parties formed by some of his former associates.

Mitsotakis, a Harvard graduate, comes from one of Greece's most prominent political families. His late father, Constantine Mitsotakis, served as prime minister in the 1990s, his sister served as foreign minister and his nephew is the current mayor of Athens. The younger Mitsotakis has vowed to rebrand Greece as a pro-business and fiscally responsible eurozone member.

Sunday's vote was held under an electoral system that grants a bonus of between 25 and 50 seats to the winning party, depending on its performance, which makes it easier for a party to win more than the required 151 seats in the 300-member parliament to form a government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 



from Latest World News on Fox News https://ift.tt/NYam35i
https://ift.tt/AuXTx9h
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vase Bought at Goodwill for $3.99 Sells for More Than $100,000

By Rebecca Carballo via NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/TgFrqBA
Post a Comment
Read more

Frenzy of tiger sharks feast on whale carcass off Australian coast

Drone footage captured by rangers shows dozens of tiger sharks feeding on the carcass of a humpback whale off the Australian coast .  The feasting involved some 50 tiger sharks scavenging a humpback whale that died of natural causes and was floating adrift in the Great Sandy Marine Park off Hervey Bay, which is about 180 miles north of Brisbane.  MONTANA MAN SENTENCED TO OVER 3 YEARS FOR TRAFFICKING EAGLE FEATHERS, PARTS The frenzy, captured on video by marine park rangers Sunday afternoon, prompted a warning from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science , reminding people to keep their distance from stranded or deceased marine animals.  "Where there are dead whales, there are likely sharks nearby and this vision clearly shows why this is the case," senior ranger Daniel Clifton told Australia’s news.com.au .  "The death of one whale, although sad, creates a life source for many other scavenging animals, including fish, sharks, and other marine like....
Post a Comment
Read more

Married pilot snorts cocaine off topless woman in booze-fueled romp before flight: report

A British Airways pilot was suspended and eventually fired after he was reported for drinking and using cocaine the night before a return flight to London. Mike Beaton, a pilot with British Airways, had a night off after a flight to Johannesburg last month that he used to indulge in large amounts of alcohol and snort cocaine off the chest of a topless woman, according to a report from the New York Post. Beaton, a married father of one, according to the report, revealed his night of antics to a fellow crew member before a return flight to London, telling her that he had been a "very naughty boy" during an exchange of text messages. BRITISH AIRWAYS INVESTIGATING REPORTS STEWARDESS IS OFFERING SEXUAL SERVICES BETWEEN FLIGHTS The pilot reportedly told the flight attendant in the text exchange that he had met two local men, a Welsh woman and a "young Spanish bird" at a Johannesburg nightclub the night before, when they engaged in hours of drinking and eventually fou...
Post a Comment
Read more