When will Greece elect a new parliament? Prime Minister Mitsotakis has now called a date. However, this is viewed critically.
According to the conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the parliamentary elections in Greece are to take place in May. However, an exact date in May has not yet been set, said Mitsotakis in an interview with the TV station Alpha on Tuesday evening. According to the deadline, the elections should have taken place by July 7 at the latest.
Mitsotakis justified the earlier election date with the fact that after a change in the electoral law by the previous government in 2016, two ballots would in all probability be necessary. At that time, the previous left-wing government under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had decided on simple proportional representation for the 300 seats in parliament. Previously, the strongest party got 50 of the 300 seats “on top” to make it easier to form a government.
If elections were held in early July, the second ballot would fall in August – the hot season when most Greeks flee to the islands and villages outside the big cities.
Too early or too late?
The media had previously speculated that the elections could take place as early as April. But then three weeks ago there was a serious train accident in central Greece, in which 57 people died. The head-on collision between two trains brought the desolate state of the Greek railways and the corresponding political responsibility for the accident into focus.
While some are now complaining about the postponement of the election date, others argue that voting so soon after the accident is not possible because the accident must first be investigated before the government can deal with elections.
The change in electoral law has already been reversed by the Mitsotakis government, but will apply at least for the first ballot in the coming elections. According to polls, the conservative Nea Dimokratia is around 35 percent, around 5 percentage points ahead of the strongest opposition party, the left-wing Syriza. That should not be enough for an absolute majority on the first election date.
