Greece will elect a new parliament on Sunday. But many people have long been disillusioned with Greek politics. The news ticker.
- Choose in Greece: Mitsotakis is leading the polls with his party
- general elections in Greece: Prime Minister Mitsotakis against challenger Tsipras
- Trust the damaged population: Wiretapping scandal, train accident and freedom of the press overshadow election
- This Greek election news ticker is updated regularly.
Athens – Greece will elect a new parliament on Sunday (May 21). According to polls, the incumbent prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is ahead with his conservative party. His challenger, former leftist 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.
Greece election: Mitsotaki’s party is ahead in polls – one in ten undecided
Around ten million Greeks are 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 “Nea Dimokratia” has 33.6 percent of the votes in the polls, despite the serious train accident at the end of February with 57 deaths and the protests that followed. Relatives of victims of the train accident even filed criminal charges against the incumbent prime minister. They hold the government responsible for the bad condition of the railway network and thus also for the serious accident.
Tsipra’s Syriza party reaches up to 26.9 percent in the polls. A total of 300 parliamentary seats have to be distributed. But according to the proportional representation law that is still in force, no party will probably 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, giving the winner additional seats.
General 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 momentum 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 hide low salaries , a migration of young people abroad and the ongoing consequences of the austerity policy 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 seen 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 €1,000, tackle unemployment and invest in Greece’s healthcare system, which has been severely strained by the pandemic. “I have always believed that it takes two terms of four years to change Greece,” Mitsotakis said in April.
Tsipras wants to increase the education budget, raise salaries for civil servants and health workers, and fight inflation, which he blames on “cartels” in the country. “Greece has Bulgarian wages and British prices,” he said last week.
Greece election: bugging scandal, train accident and freedom of the press damage trust
Tsipras and Syriza promise to restore confidence in the state. The wiretapping scandal involving the Greek secret service, in which Mitsotakis’ government is accused of wiretapping 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 keeps people busy. In addition, Greece is accused of extrajudicially deporting refugees and other migrants The Wall Street Journal reported.
Freedom of the press is limited in Greece. According to the organization Reporters Without Borders, Greece ranks 107th out of 180, behind Qatar (105th). Since Mitsotaki’s party won the elections in 2019, the state news agency ANA-MPA and the public broadcaster ERT have been directly subordinate to the prime minister. (vk/afp)
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