Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's ruling party won by a wide margin, but a second round of elections is still likely.
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| Kyriakos Mitsotakis celebrates with supporters after the Greek election results were announced. (Source: Reuters) |
On May 21st, preliminary results of the Greek elections, held that same day, showed that with over 96% of the votes counted, Prime Minister Mitsotakis's New Democracy party received 40.8% of the vote.
Notably, the party also won in places considered "strongholds" of the left wing, such as the island of Crete.
The second-largest party, the left-wing Syriza party of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, only secured 20% of the vote.
The Greek Communist Party (KKE) received 7.2% of the vote, with voter turnout increasing in urban areas.
Meanwhile, the MeRa25 party of former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis failed to reach the 3% threshold needed to secure seats in Parliament .
Commenting on the result, Giorgios Georpetritis, former Secretary of State and close associate of Mitsotakis, remarked: “It seems the New Democracy party will have a significant victory… Greeks remember the past and vote for the future… they vote for future generations.”
Government officials also described the result as a "great victory" for Mr. Mitsotakis.
Traditionally, after the official results are announced, President Katerina Sakellaropoulou would allow Kyriakos Mitsotakis three days to discuss forming a coalition government. However, close officials say he wants to enter a new round of elections, scheduled for early July, to seek a majority government.
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