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What to know as Greece votes again in legislative polls

Greece is set to hold legislative elections once again on Sunday, June 25. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the conservative former prime minister, is seeking re-election and is widely anticipated to secure another term in office.

AFP WORLD
Published June 18,2023
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Greece once again holds legislative elections on Sunday, June 25.

Conservative former prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is seeking another term, is expected to come out victorious.

These are the things to know:

- Why new elections? -

In the last poll, no party won the absolute majority needed, and the party with the largest number of seats was not able to form a coalition.

In the vote on May 21, ex-prime minister Mitsotakis of the conservative New Democracy (ND) party was the clear winner, but only secured 40.8 percent of the vote -- or 146 seats out of 300.

The four other elected parties -- Syriza, the Pasok-Kinal party, the KKE communist party of Greece and the nationalist Greek Solution party -- did not want to form a coalition.

As a result, an interim government was appointed, with a new election called for June 25.

- Eyes on absolute majority -

June's election will use a new voting system that grants a "bonus" of up to 50 seats to the party that wins the most votes.

Mitsotakis is betting on this to ensure he obtains the absolute majority he needs.

The majority of polls predict a comfortable victory for his right-wing ND party, with polling showing between 39 percent and 43 percent intend to vote for them.

Syriza is forecast to get between 18 and 22 percent of the vote.

Two other parties could enter parliament. The nationalist left Course of Freedom party founded by a former dissident from Syriza, and a small hard-right party called Niki, or Victory.

- Post-election scenarios -

Mitsotakis has said there could be a third election in August if he does not obtain an absolute majority this time around.

Obtaining a large majority for the ND depends both on its overall score and on the number of parties that enter parliament by crossing the three percent threshold, experts say.

"If the ND obtains (for example) 39 percent of the vote and there are seven parties in Parliament, the right will just about get an absolute majority -- 151 seats", said Penelope Foundethakis, professor of constitutional law at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens.

If no party gets an absolute majority, or if no coalition is formed, the mandate of the interim government could be extended with a view to a third ballot, Foundethakis said.

- Alexis Tsipras -

Falling more than 11 points compared to the 2019 elections, Syriza will be hoping not to drop below 20 percent.

Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who represented the hope of the radical left in Europe when he came to power in 2015, considered resigning after his party's poor showing in the elections.

But he changed his mind because he felt he "did not have the right to abandon the battle".

Syriza finished second even in Tsipras' home village near Arta, in northwestern Greece.

According to experts, another poor performance by Syriza will openly raise the question of Tsipras' leadership of the party he has helmed for 15 years and which he has largely refocused on the left in recent years.