Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wins the premiership once again after a landslide parliamentary victory following a second election round.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday won a second term as premier with pledges to accelerate institutional and economic reforms after he won the majority of votes for the second time in a bit over a month.
The conservatives won the election by a landslide, marking the first victory by such a margin in nearly five decades as Mitsotakis and his New Democracy party are lauded for their efforts in bringing economic stability to the country embroiled in debts.
“Major reforms will proceed rapidly”, Mitsotakis pledged, adding that he had “ambitious” targets for his next four years in power that could “transform” Greece.
The right-wing premier also vowed to bolster Greece’s public health system which had been mired by years of COVID-19, as well as improve railway safety in the country hit by a train disaster in February that claimed the lives of 57 people, making for the worst incident of the sort in Greek history.
Mitsotakis said he “constantly strove to improve and learn from my mistakes.”
Mitsotakis had his eyes on the premiership once again after guiding the country through tumultuous times through the COVID-19 pandemic, and though he is a highly controversial figure, the economy under him has seen two consecutive years of growth.
Having already won the election last month, the Greek premier called for a second round so as to be able to garner an absolute parliamentary majority after falling five seats short, seeking to form a single-party government.
Mitsotakis had won the previous election, leaving former prime minister Alexis Tsipras in the dust, more than 20% behind, despite massive popular demonstrations taking place against the Greek official due to his economic policies and pro-Western tendencies.
His bet that he would win the second round paid off, as he and his party emerged victorious despite his rule being marred by a wiretapping scandal and the aforementioned train catastrophe. One key concern was abstinence, as the party being so likely to win might push its supporters to ignore the vote and therefore give the leftists a much-needed push.
Despite the large demonstrations that erupted in the aftermath of the rail catastrophe, Kostas Karamanlis, the transport minister at the time, was re-elected on Sunday.
“I hope we don’t have to meet again in early August,” Mitsotakis told Skai TV hours ahead of the campaigning blackout on Saturday, adding that “this is no joke […] All the gains we have made must be consolidated and continue.”
It is worth noting that Mitsotakis was the country’s first premier post-bailout era, which had seen his predecessor hiking taxes in order to build up a budget surplus, which was demanded by international creditors. This comes as unemployment and inflation are receding and growth this year forecast to be twice that of the European Union average.
Now that he has 158 seats in the 300-seat parliament, Mitsotakis will officially receive the mandate to form a government on Monday from Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
The prime minister-elect is expected to unveil his cabinet in the coming days, though names were already circulating even before the last votes were counted on Sunday.
Mitsotakis’s trusted troubleshooter George Gerapetritis is being tipped as foreign minister in the new government.
Gerapetritis was enlisted in March to deal with the train tragedy, as well as a wiretapping scandal that implicated the prime minister’s office last year.
Meanwhile, outgoing Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is expected to become the minister of defense.
The country’s upcoming finance minister is set to be Kostis Hatzidakis, a veteran politician who worked in the ministries of development, labor, and transport.
Source: almayadeen
