May 22 (UPI) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday, called for a new election to be held next month, rather than attempt to form a coalition government.
This comes after Mitsotakis claimed victory in the nation’s general elections, though his ruling party fell five seats short of securing a majority government under the country’s new proportional representation electoral system.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou had given Mitsotakis and his New Democracy party three days to form a coalition with the left-leaning Syriza and center-left Pasok parties.
Rather thatn attempting to form the three-party coalition, Mitsotakis will instead send Greece back to the polls in an attempt to form a one-party government and secure a second term in office.
“I intend to return the exploratory mandate to you this afternoon so that we can hold elections, possibly even on June 25,” Mitsotakis told Sakellaropoulou on Monday.
“There are no conditions for the formation of a government.”
The June 25 target is not a set date and would be about a week earlier than Mitsotakis had first mentioned.
With nearly 100% of the vote counted by Monday morning, Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party was poised to secure 146 seats in the 300-seat Hellenic Parliament, according to elections results, which stated nearly 61% of the voting public participated.
Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party and former prime minister from 2015 to 2019, said Sunday that he has spoken with Mitsotakis and congratulated him on his election victory.
In a statement, Tsipras called the election results “extremely negative” for his party and that they will immediately evaluate what happened.
“However, the election cycle is not yet over, since there will most likely be a second election contest,” he said. “So, we don’t have the margin of time. We must immediately make all the changes needed to fight the next crucial and final electoral battle on the best possible terms.”
Mitsotakis came to power in 2019, defeating Tsipras along the way to securing a majority government of 158 seats in Parliament.
