Two days before the legislative elections in Greece, the former right-wing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who aims to win an absolute majority, called on voters to give him a mandate to form “a stable government”.
Speaking one last time before his supporters in Athens, the leader of the New Democracy conservatives called on them to complete “an electoral marathon” marked by two elections in five weeks “with a result that will give the country a stable government, the government of New Democracy”.
“Greece is blue (the color of ND, ndlr) and will remain so after Sunday’s elections,” he predicted, amid a sea of ??Greek flags.
“In uncertain times, Greece needs a government that does not depend on fragile majorities,” he also stressed.
In Thessaloniki, the second city of the country (north), the leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, concluded his campaign by promising to fight “until the last second” despite a stinging setback suffered during the first ballot on May 21st.
“We are fighting. With our own weapons. Our values ??and our principles”, hammered the former Prime Minister (2015-2019) and troublemaker of the radical left in Europe.
On Saturday, on the eve of the second ballot, no political demonstrations or publication of opinion polls are authorized.
Big favorite in the polls, Kyriakos Mitsotakis won a big victory on May 21 by winning 40.8% of the vote. The double of the left of Alexis Tsipras.
But this result did not give him the absolute majority that would have allowed him to form a government without having to form an alliance.
Coming from a large family of political leaders, the 55-year-old leader then called for new elections.
The latest polls give him this time between 37.8% and 45% of voting intentions.
For Syriza, which recorded only 20.07% of the vote, a drop of 11.5 points compared to 2019, the decline could be further accentuated.
The forecasts place it at between 16.8% and 20%, followed by the Pasok-Kinal socialists (11% to 12%).
But if the battle promises to be “difficult”, as recognized by Alexis Tsipras, “it is beautiful at the same time” because it opposes “two visions”: that carried by Syriza which advocates “humanity, democracy and justice”, and that of the right which gives priority, according to him, to the profits of the elites “over the lives of the greatest number”.
To obtain an absolute majority, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, replaced by an interim Prime Minister pending Sunday’s elections, is betting on a different voting system which this time grants the winning party a bonus of up to 50 seats.
“Citizens have turned their backs on darkness (…) and rewarded a government that is consistent in word and deed and honest in the face of its failures,” he said, again highlighting his record. economy marked by the resumption of growth after the years of financial slump and the fall in unemployment.
The former Harvard student has sought in recent days to remobilize the crowds who, out of weariness, could be tempted not to move to the polling stations.
Another possible concern for the conservative camp: the crumbling of votes on the far right where two to three small parties could send deputies to sit by exceeding the 3% threshold.
However, the number of parties represented in parliament will arithmetically have repercussions on the number of seats that the ND will obtain.
Among these small formations likely to complicate the task of Kyriakos Mitsotakis figure “the Spartans”, supported by a former senior official of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, Ilias Kassidiaris, who is currently serving a heavy prison sentence.
The former Golden Dawn spokesperson had been barred from contesting the elections by the Supreme Court but continued to carry out political activities from his cell.
The electoral campaign was also overshadowed by the sinking, on June 14, of a migrant boat off Pylos in the Peloponnese, one of the worst migratory dramas in the Mediterranean.
The Greek coast guards have been singled out for having delayed intervening when the boat was dilapidated and overloaded.
23/06/2023 21:43:13 – Athens (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
