Greece’s center-right leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was formally sworn in as Prime Minister on Monday, June 26, 2023.
This comes after he easily won a second term with a record-high margin over the left-wing opposition, in an election on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
Mitsotakis was sworn in after Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou formally gave him the mandate to govern. Later Monday, he will name his new cabinet that is to assume its duties on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou acts as the Head of state, a mainly ceremonial role.
In a televised meeting with Sakellaropoulou, the newly elected Prime Minister said, “My aim was to secure a stable government with a parliamentary majority. Unfortunately, two elections were needed for that.”
“I have committed to implement major, deeply needed reforms over the next four years, (and) have a strong mandate to do that,” Mitsotakis added.
Mitsotakis’ New Democracy (ND) party had 40.55% of the 99.70% votes counted, which is more than twice the main opposition Syriza’s 17.84%. It was the largest margin of victory seen in half a century and slightly expanded ND’s 20-percentage-point lead in a previous election five weeks before.
ND won in 58 of the country’s 59 electoral regions, capturing traditional Socialist and left-wing strongholds, some for the first time.
Mitsotakis is a member of Greece’s most prominent political families. His late father, Constantine Mitsotakis, served as Prime Minister in the 1990s, his sister was a Foreign Minister, and his nephew is the current Mayor of Athens.
Also, Mitsotakis spoke with Sakellaropoulou about the “surprise” entry of marginal parties, which raises the number represented in Parliament from five to eight. However, he opined, “I think our democracy is mature enough to handle whatever temporary turbulence (ensues).”
President Sakellaropoulou also noted that “the eight-party new Parliament will engender many challenges for its Speaker.” “We’ll all go through it together. I hope for the best outcome for the country,” she said.
Sunday’s election, held under a new electoral law that boosts the first party, gave ND a comfortable majority of 158 seats in the 300-member Parliament, with Syriza getting 48. The May election had failed to provide Mitsotakis with a majority due to the one-off electoral system then in force, which prompted the new vote.
Center-left PASOK elected 32 lawmakers and the Stalinist-rooted Communist Party 20. The remaining 42 seats will be shared between three far-right parties; including one endorsed by a jailed former top official in a defunct, Nazi-inspired party, and another representing the far-left.
Mitsotakis Vows To Transform Greece
Mitsotakis pledged late Sunday to use his second term to “transform Greece, with a dynamic economic growth rate that will increase salaries and reduce inequality, with better and free public health care, a more effective and digital state and a strong country.”
Despite scandals such as revelations of wiretapping targeting senior politicians and journalists and a deadly February 28 train crash that exposed poor safety measures in public transport, that he faced late in his first term, voters chose to re-elect Mitsotakis, a Prime Minister who had brought about economic growth and decreased unemployment.
Nonetheless, Mitsotakis faces several challenges. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis brought on by the war in Ukraine, he must maintain economic growth and improve ties with Turkey. Relations between Greece and Turkey soured in 2020 over offshore gas drilling rights but improved recently.
His main contender, 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, was Prime Minister from 2015 to 2019 during the height of Greece’s financial crisis.
Tsipras first came to power promising an end to painful spending cuts imposed by international bailout creditors but abruptly switched course to sign up for a new round of rescue loans accompanied by further austerity.
Despite the election result, Tsipras has shown no inclination to resign and there have been no open calls from within his party for him to do so.
