Greece PM calls general elections for May 21
Athens, Mar 28 (EFE).- Greece will hold general elections on May 21, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Tuesday, as the country reckons with the fallout from a deadly train accident that sparked massive anti-government protests.
Mitsotakis’ announcement two months before the July deadline came during a televised cabinet meeting.
According to the latest polls, Mitsotakis’ ruling conservative New Democracy party (EPP) is leading with 30%, ahead of the main opposition leftist Syriza party at 26% and the socialist Pasok-Kinal party at 10%.
Although opinion polls do not show any party getting the 45% necessary for an absolute majority, Mitsotakis hopes his EPP will prevail and stressed that citizens were going to be summoned for a second round of voting in July if needed.
The May election will be held using a new electoral law that eliminates a system that used to give a 50-seat bonus to the winning party, with which Mitsotakis won an absolute majority in the July 2019 elections.
Looking back on his four-year term, the Greek prime minister said that his government had effectively managed multiple crises, including coronavirus pandemic, the energy crisis and Turkey’s acts of “provocations.”
On February 28, a head-on collision between two trains left 57 people dead, for which Mitsotakis has apologized and promised to modernize the country’s railway system.EFE
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