Skip to main content

Greeks set to go to the polls on Sunday

GREEK voters goes to the polls on Sunday, with the right-wing government led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis seeking a second term.

Mr Mitsotakis’s New Democracy Party could struggle to retain power as the country fights to emerge from a draconian spending controls imposed by international bailout lenders.

Six parties look set to gain national representation, including the communists and Nato-sceptic nationalists.

The far-right National Party — Greeks, founded by a jailed former MP with a history of neonazi activity, has been banned from participating by the Supreme Court.

Leading the opposition is former prime minister Alexis Tsipras of the centre-left Syriza party. 

Syriza has centred its campaign on February’s rail disaster in northern Greece, in which a passenger service slammed into an oncoming freight train that had mistakenly been placed on the same track, killing 57 people.

It was later revealed that railway stations had been poorly staffed and safety infrastructure underfunded, broken and outdated.

Syriza has also campaigned on a European Parliament investigation into a murky surveillance scandal after prominent Greek politicians and journalists discovered spyware on their phones. 

Opinion polls suggest that Sunday’s election, being held under a new system of proportional representation, won’t produce an outright winner. 

A second election may be needed in early July when the system would revert to one that favours the winning party with a seat-bonus in parliament.

Even then, current polling data points to Mr Mitsotakis being forced into a coalition, with the once-powerful central-left Pasok party potentially holding the balance of power.

More than 9.8 million Greeks are eligible to vote in the election for 300 members of the unicameral parliament who serve a four-year term. 

The voting age has been lowered to 17 and, in another first, Greeks living abroad will be able to vote in their country of residence.

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 12,411
We need:£ 5,589
5 Days remaining
Donate today