Greece: the interim Prime Minister invested before a new election

May 25, 2023

Acting Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas was sworn in on Thursday in Athens, another step towards a second ballot in Greece by the end of June after Sunday’s elections won by the right.

Ioannis Sarmas, 66, president of the Court of Auditors was appointed Thursday by the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou after the failure, wanted by the main parties, of attempts to form a coalition government.

This senior magistrate, who notably completed his doctorate in human rights in Paris, must form a government by Friday.

“The interim government will have the sole power to apply the laws” and to “organize the elections”, he underlined after a brief ceremony.

Vassilis Kaskarelis, former ambassador and negotiator for Cyprus’ accession to the European Union in the 2000s, has been appointed acting head of diplomacy.

Alkiviadis Stephanis, former chief of staff, has been appointed to the defense portfolio and to the finance ministry, Théodoros Pelagidis, professor of economics at the University of Piraeus.

Only a quarter of the 20 new interim ministers are women in a country where politics remains a male affair: in the Employment portfolio, Patrina Paparrigopoulou, in the Health portfolio, Anastasia Kotanidou, in the Interior, Kalliopi Spanou, in the Development, Eleni Louri, and Tourism, Ioanna Dretta.

The 300 deputies elected on May 21 are expected to meet for the first time on Sunday in parliament, which will be dissolved the next day when the date of the elections is officially announced.

They should most likely take place on June 25, as now former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wishes.

Ioannis Sarmas, whose term will end after the next election, succeeds Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the right-wing New Democracy who largely won Sunday’s election with 40% of the vote.

Despite this victory, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was unable to win the absolute majority, as he wished and therefore immediately called for a new ballot.

He is betting on granting a bonus of up to 50 seats to the party that came out on top in this second ballot, which will take place with a different voting system. This bonus could allow him to obtain an absolute majority, according to his calculations.

Former left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party only won 71 seats, admitted having suffered a “painful” and “unexpected shock” on Sunday with only some 20% of the vote, half less than his main rival. .

However, he pledged to “fight a new battle” against an “almighty” right-wing government, “which is bad for democracy”.