In the repeat elections held for the 300-seat Greek parliament on Sunday, June 25, the conservative New Democracy (ND) party led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis secured a simple majority by winning 158 seats (12+) and 40.55% votes. The main opposition party, Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, continued its slump as it was reduced to 48 seats and 17.84 % votes. The center-left PASOK-KINAL coalition and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) won 32 (9-) and 20 (6-) seats, respectively.
Far-right groups, mostly new political formations — Spartans, Greek Solution (EL) and the Democratic Patriotic Movement-Victory (NIKI) — won 12, 12, and 10 seats, respectively, marking a strong return of the far-right to mainstream politics following the ban on the Golden Dawn party in 2020. The anti-establishment platform Course of Freedom (PE), led by Zoe Konstantopoulou, secured eight seats. The elections saw a voter turnout of 52.82%.
In the last parliamentary elections held on May 21, which saw a 61.10% turnout, ND had emerged as the single largest party with 146 seats, but lost some of its seats from the previous assembly and fell short of a simple majority. The ND leadership, which was not interested in forming a coalition with other parties and was confident of winning a majority, went for a repeat election. According to the Greek electoral system which is based on proportional representation, if the three leading parties choose to forgo the option of forming a government after the first round of elections, a repeat election will be held where the single largest party is likely to get a bonus number of seats. The ND won a majority as it had hoped to but the gains made by the three far-right parties is a major concern for progressive, working class and liberal sections of the country.
902.gr reported that Mitsotakis was sworn in as prime minister on Monday after he received the mandate to form a government from President Katerina Sakellaropoulou. His new cabinet will be sworn in on July 3.
The neo-liberal policies of the ND government had faced widespread opposition from the working class and other popular sections. However, far-right groups managed to cash in on the people’s anger against the government, splitting the opposition vote. Syriza was also unable to capitalize on the popular discontent. The party does not seem to have recovered from what was considered its betrayal in 2015, when it came to power on an anti-troika mandate but surrendered and implemented the same neo-liberal policies promoting austerity.
Following the declaration of results, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Greece (KKE), stated that “Based on the result, KKE has an increase in percentage [+0.46%] with hundreds of thousands of votes, while the decrease in the number of MPs is due to the New Democracy law that steals our parliamentary seats.”
He said that under the new government, the working class was set to face a new round of attacks, including austerity policies and cuts in social spending, the possibility of a new economic crisis, and further involvement in NATO.
“The KKE will constantly fight the battle, in the streets of struggle and in Parliament, against every anti-grassroots bill. It will be the voice of the people.. The presence in Parliament of the far-right and fascist movement is undoubtedly another negative development of these elections. It proves once again that the roots of fascism-Nazism lie in the system and the state… they are born and bred of this rotten exploitative system,” he added.
In October 2020, a Greek court had convicted the leadership of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party of running a criminal organization. The party was banned and its members convicted for their role in the murder of Greek musician Pavlos Fyssas and other hate crimes. Following this, the far-right suffered a setback but has seen a resurgence, which is part of a trend across many parts of Europe.
