Mitsotakis is expected to be vowed in as Prime Minister of Greek following a landslide success

June 27, 2023: On Monday, Greece’s New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be the new prime minister after a resounding victory in a repeat election gave him a second four-year term on Sunday.

Centre-right New Democracy gained 40.5% of the vote and 158 seats in the 300-seat parliament, more than 20 points clear of the leftist Syriza, which ran the country from 2015-2019, including at the height of Greece’s decade-long economic crisis.

Mitsotakis, 55, a former banker and scion of a powerful political family, has promised to boost revenue from the vital tourist industry, create jobs and increase wages to near the European Union average.

“I never promise miracles. But I assure you I will stay true to my national duty,” Mitsotakis said.

Greek newspapers hailed the result a “historic win,” with Ta Nea writing on its front page, “Mitsotakis’s absolute dominance, with no opponent.”

He is due to visit President Katerina Sakellaropoulou on Monday to formally receive a mandate to form a government, after which he will be sworn in. The new cabinet is also expected to be announced on Monday.

Mitsotakis, prime minister from 2019 until stepping down in favor of a caretaker premier following an inconclusive May 21 vote, said he would push ahead with reforms to rebuild the country’s credit rating after the debt crisis wracked the nation for a decade.

While the COVID-19 pandemic and a deadly rail crash in February exposed shortcomings in Greece’s health and public transport systems, soaring prices and economic hardship have more recently topped voters’ concerns.

Sunday’s vote was a heavy defeat for Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza party, which lost more than 30 lawmakers.

It also saw three fringe right-wing and nationalist parties – including the anti-immigrant ‘Spartans’ enter parliament with a combined 35 seats.

“This result is negative for democracy and society,” Tsipras said.