Greece election: Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservative party wins vote but falls short of majority
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Greece's ruling New Democracy party stormed to a crushing victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday but fell just short of the threshold needed to form a government on its own, making a runoff election in a month more likely.
With most votes counted, conservative New Democracy took a commanding lead of 40.8 per cent, trouncing the radical leftist Syriza, which governed from 2015 to 2019, and polled 20.1 per cent.
Greece's interior ministry projected New Democracy could win 145 seats in parliament, six short of an absolute majority.
From Monday, President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give the top three parties - New Democracy, Syriza and the Socialist PASOK - three days each in turn to form a coalition government.
If they all fail, Ms Sakellaropoulou will appoint a caretaker government to prepare new elections about a month later.
Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has repeatedly said he wants a strong one-party government, said he believed he was given a clear mandate.
"The ballot results are decisive. They show that New Democracy has the approval of the people to rule, strong and autonomous," he told cheering crowds outside party headquarters in downtown Athens.
The result was a stunning boost for Mr Mitsotakis, whose administration had to contend with the wiretapping scandal, the Covid pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and a deadly rail crash in February which triggered public outrage.
In equal measure, it was a disaster for Syriza and its leader Alexis Tsipras, a firebrand catapulted to power in 2015 on the back of voters' discontent with other parties over their handling of the debt crisis which ravaged Greece's economy for more than a decade.
The MeRA25 movement headlined by Yanis Varoufakis, a former Syriza finance minister forced to resign by Mr Tsipras in the chaotic 2015 negotiations with lenders, failed to get a seat in parliament.
Without Mr Mitsotakis, the numbers for the outliers, should they be given a mandate, do not add up. Syriza has 72 seats, PASOK 41 seats, the Communist KKE party 26 and the right-wing Hellenic Solution 16.
KKE has said it would not take part in any alliance, while Hellenic Solution has been critical of both New Democracy and Syriza.
Socialist party PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis had been seen early on as a potential coalition partner for Mr Mitsotakis but their relationship soured somewhat when he discovered he had been under state surveillance.
The wiretap scandal, which erupted last year, forced the resignation of the head of the intelligence service and a nephew of Mr Mitsotakis, who was a top aide in his office.
In the run-up to the vote, Mr Androulakis had categorically ruled out forming a partnership with Mr Mitsotakis' conservatives.
In March, he said he would only back a coalition if neither Mr Tsipras or Mr Mitsotakis became prime minister.
Mr Tsipras, who said he called Mr Mitsotakis to congratulate him on his win, said the race was not over.
"Battles have wins, and losses," he said. "The electoral cycle has not ended yet ... it is very possible there will be a second election."
Elections in Greece are held every four years for the 300-seat parliament.
