On Wednesday, former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that Greece will have to hold a third round of general elections in August if an absolute majority is not reached in Parliament to form a single-party government in the second election round on June 25.
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Mitsotakis’ New Democracy (ND) party won the May 21 elections with 40.79 percent of the vote (146 seats), failing to obtain absolute majority in the 300-member Parliament.
The main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance finished second with 20.07 percent and the Socialists (PASOK-KINAL) came third with 11.46 percent (41 seats).
Since Parliament has failed to form a coalition government, a caretaker cabinet was appointed to lead the country to the repeat election.
“We are here to demonstrate for the whole scandal to come to light — for all the illegal wiretapping to be revealed and to stop immediately.”
A political crisis has erupted in Greece amid a wiretapping scandal, and now many in the country want the government to go pic.twitter.com/1fPdGYtsSL
— TRT World (@trtworld)
August 26, 2022
The runoff will be held under an electoral system that provides a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party, facilitating the formation of a single-party government.
Under this system, the frontrunner could gain absolute majority in Parliament with a minimum of 38 percent of the vote, political analysts say.
ND leads in all the latest opinion polls, but a number of smaller parties are also close to the 3 percent threshold for parliamentary representation.
Under the electoral system, the more parties enter Parliament, the more difficult it will be for the absolute winner to reach majority as the required threshold increases to 41 percent.
On Tuesday, Mitsotakis said that he had ruled out cooperation with the right-wing parties, and for him the Socialists remained the only viable option for coalition partner. For now, however, the Socialists remain non-committal.
Thousands of people gathered in front of the Parliament of Athens to demand responsibility from the Government after the death, on February 28, of 57 people in the most serious railway accident in the history of Greece. pic.twitter.com/qBsTchTCzv
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)
March 6, 2023
