Greece's New Democracy Secures Second Term with Absolute Majority in Electoral Triumph

Greece’s New Democracy party wins a second term

After a second round of voting, under a different electoral system, New Democracy managed to obtain an absolute majority. A new mandate for PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis looms, with non-trivial challenges ahead.

 

ND confirms the percentage of votes, but a different system does the trick

The first election round held late in May under a purely proportional system did not result in a workable majority. New Democracy (ND), the party of PM Mitsotakis, came in first with an ample lead over Syriza, the main opposition party, but failed to obtain an outright majority. As no contender intended to form a coalition, a new election was called for 25 June.

The new contest was held yesterday under a different rule, which reintroduced a majority premium, worth up to 50 seats for the party in first place. ND would have secured an ample majority in the first round under the new electoral rule, opening the door to a re-run of a Mitsotakis government. The party would have failed to obtain a majority only if it scored less than 39% of votes in the ballots and at the same time, another seven parties managed to obtain parliamentary representation.

This was not the case. Indeed, while seven other parties managed to enter parliament, ND scored well. With almost all votes counted, ND managed to get 40.6% of the vote and, thanks to the bonus component, obtained an absolute majority with 158 seats (required majority 151). Syriza came in second with 17.8% of the vote, confirming it as the main opposition party, with PASOK coming in third with 11.9% of the vote. Another five parties managed to break the 3% threshold and obtain parliamentary representation. Three of them, the Spartans, Niki and Greek Solution, positioned on the hard-right of the political spectrum, obtained a combined vote of more than 12%.