Former conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his leftist predecessor Alexis Tspiras are the two main candidates in Sunday’s legislative elections in Greece.
If the first comes from a large political family, the second has led his party for 15 years.
In power from 2019 to the end of May, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, comes from one of those great families that have dominated Greek politics for decades.
This graduate of the American University of Harvard is the son of a former Prime Minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, but also the brother of the former Minister of Culture– appointed by their father– then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dora Bakoyanni. His nephew is the current mayor of Athens. Another of his nephews was until last year one of his close advisers.
After a career in London finance, notably with the American consulting firm McKinsey, he was elected New Democracy MP for the first time in 2004 before assuming ministerial portfolios in various Conservative governments.
In the midst of the financial crisis, he was charged, as Minister of Administrative Reform, with carrying out massive reductions in the number of employees in the civil service.
Appointed leader of the party in 2016, this man little known for his oratorical skills won the 2019 legislative elections, a victory that brought the liberal movement he represented within New Democracy closer to his nationalist wing.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis highlights “the robust recovery” of the economy during his mandate after the debacle of years of crisis and bailouts with drastic conditions.
A tight-fisted security official, he has beefed up the police, signed big arms deals, especially with France, and extended the metal wall along the border with Turkey to fight what he calls of “invasion” of migrants.
His tenure was marred by a scandal of illegal phone tapping of journalists and political opponents.
Uncomfortable in crowds, he tried to correct his image by appearing in casual dress on his campaign trips: white shirt, no tie.
He also bet a lot on social networks, in particular to try to attract young people with mini-videos on Tiktok.
At the head of a vast real estate heritage, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is married to a businesswoman, Mareva Grabowski, and father of three children.
His main opponent, the pugnacious leader of Syriza Alexis Tsipras appears to be in a weak position for these elections after a stinging setback in the May 21 ballot.
And a new heavy defeat would pose even more acutely the question of his continued leadership of his left-wing party.
After the painful defeat five weeks ago, he made no secret of the fact that he had considered throwing in the towel. Before changing your mind.
“I have never backed down and I have never deserted,” justified the man who was twice elected Prime Minister in 2015, a troubled year marked by both a serious financial and migratory crisis.
The leader, who campaigned for more social justice in a Greece still marked by the years of crisis, remains the man of the showdown with Greece’s creditors when the country was on the verge of coming out of the euro zone.
After an about-face which made him accept the drastic conditions dictated by the EU for the granting of a new aid plan, Alexis Tsipras had to agree to implement painful austerity measures.
Part of his electorate has never forgiven him. Since then, this “Greek Mélenchon” as the press nicknamed him in 2015 has largely repositioned his party towards the center-left.
This 48-year-old man known for never wearing a tie had managed during his term to put an end to a long diplomatic dispute with his neighbor, North Macedonia.
Member of the Communist youth, Alexis Tsipras took the reins of Syriza in 2008, at only 33 years old.
Father of two children, he has lived with his girlfriend since high school.
06/25/2023 06:06:20 – Athens (AFP) – © 2023 AFP