The winner of the election, the center-right New Democracy got out of the government cooperation, but will be met by the far-right Spartans in the parliament, writes Ylen Greikka journalist Sara Saure.
Sara Saure Greece reporter
Two parliamentary elections have been held in Greece within 35 days.
The leader of the centre-right New Democracy party, the winner of both elections Kyriakos Mitsotakis has an equally wide smile.
In the May elections, his party inflated its previous support, even though it had four years of government responsibility behind it. Now the popularity rose to the level of May, and New Democracy can form a government solely thanks to the additional seats awarded to the winner.
In the elections a month ago, bonuses were not distributed. The centre-right would have needed a government partner for an absolute majority. Prime Minister Mitsotakis decided to aim for an absolute majority in the new elections with the new electoral law.
The fear of the third election during the summer holidays motivates to vote
Mitsotakis, who will become Prime Minister for the second time, will announce the composition of his government today, Monday.
More women are to be seen in ministers than before. Despite the double elections, Greece gets a government faster than it did in Finland.
Mitsotakis had already hinted that if New Democracy does not win an absolute majority in these elections as well, the country will proceed to elections again.
The gamble paid off. The third election in the heat of August did not appeal, even though the turnout yesterday was lower than a month ago.
According to Mitsotakis, sticking to the goal of an absolute majority was a necessity for the country to get major changes without a stable government carrying out “blackmail” from a smaller government partner.
These changes include reforming public health care, universities and the legal system.
The return of the “Golden Dawn”?
The election result also brought three extreme right-wing minor parties to parliament.
The most surprising of them was the Spartans party.
A group unknown to the general public just a few weeks ago took off when a former member of parliament from the Golden Dawn party, which was declared a criminal organization Ilias Kasidiaris publicly announced his support for the Spartans. Kasidiaris, who is serving a prison sentence due to his connection to Golden Dawn, himself ran for elections with the Greek National Party he founded, but was rejected by the Supreme Court.
It has been speculated that it was the former supporters of the Golden Dawn who voted the Spartans into parliament.
Time will tell if Kyriakos Mitsotakis is right when he states that “extremist groups reaching the parliament is not an indication of pluralism but of the cacophony of democracy”.