In his café in the suburbs of Athens, Agueliki Giannopoulou expects, like many voters in Greece, “a large victory for the right” led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday in the legislative elections.
For this 45-year-old woman, the victory of the former Prime Minister will be even “wider” than in the previous election just five weeks ago.
“The other (the candidate of the left Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, editor’s note) does not say anything, his speech is not strong”, she judges while frothing milk for a cappuccino.
Called to the polls on May 21, the Greeks must again appoint their 300 deputies on Sunday. A second ballot wanted by Mr. Mitsotakis who, despite his clear victory five weeks ago, did not obtain the absolute majority he wanted to govern.
With 40.8% of the vote, its formation, New Democracy did twice as well as Syriza which, conversely, suffered a snub by winning only 20.07% of the vote.
But Kyriakos Mitsotakis has sought in recent days to remobilize the crowds who, out of weariness, could be tempted not to move to the polling stations.
He went so far as to warn of a third election in August, at the height of the tourist season, if he fails to form a stable government.
In front of a freddo coffee at 4 euros, Maria N., a doctor in her fifties who did not want to give her name, also believes that “the result is predetermined to the point that I am not sure to go and vote”.
In front of a metro station near the café, Sophia Konstantinidou, 50, does not hide her resignation either.
“We are fed up with this second vote”, she says, “but we have to go” because “it is an opportunity for small parties to enter Parliament and to have (thus) more pluralism”, she says.
The conservatives of Mr. Mitsotakis are betting on a different voting system from that of May 21 and which this time grants a “bonus” of up to 50 seats to the party that comes first.
But the extent of his predictable victory depends on how many parties cross the 3% threshold to win seats in parliament.
Eight years after the granting of a final rescue plan for the Greek economy, the daily economic difficulties remain the main concern of many Greeks.
In front of a sports betting pharmacy, two retirees discuss the high cost of living. The conversation heats up quickly.
“Every day, prices change in supermarkets,” laments sixty-year-old Konstantinos Noumas.
“I have 50 cherry trees in the Peloponnese. At the cooperative, the price per kilo is 1.7 euros. At the supermarket, we buy (cherries) 6 euros (per kilo)”, he is indignant.
His friend Zissis Karagiorgos, 67, hopes that “people, especially young people, will stop being afraid of change” and that they will “understand that the cell phone or the car are not the priority values”.
Although traditionally more inclined to vote for the left, a large percentage of young people nevertheless voted on May 21 for New Democracy, according to analysts.
Among them, Nikos Giorgiou, 24, who even came with his mother to support the right-wing leader on Friday on the Syntagma esplanade, for his last campaign rally.
He “deserves an absolute majority?, according to this economics student. “Only Mitsotakis can allow the country to stabilize economically and offer a future for the youth who were forced into exile during the economic crisis? he.
More moderate, Giorgos Bistouras, a 20-year-old student, who walks with his girlfriend in Syntagma Square, in the center of Athens, assures that “during the last four years (in power) of the right, there have been good and bad times”.
At the end of this new election, “we hope that salaries will improve and that promises will materialize”, he underlines.
06/24/2023 05:32:24 – Athens (AFP) – © 2023 AFP