Mitsotakis calls for second Greek election, possibly on June 25

ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday called for a new election, to be held possibly on June 25, a day after his conservative party posted a resounding victory but fell short of an outright majority.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou granted Mitsotakis a three-day mandate to form a coalition government after the ruling New Democracy party scored a massive but inconclusive victory in Sunday’s vote.

“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.”

Later in the afternoon, after calling the other political leaders to inform them about his decision, Mitsotakis returned the mandate to Sakellaropoulou.

New Democracy got 40.8 percent of the vote on Sunday, thrashing the left-wing Syriza party, which received only 20.1 percent. The Socialist Pasok party had 11.7 percent, the Communists KKE had 7.1 percent and the nationalist Greek Solution 4.5 percent.

Despite its strong showing, New Democracy didn’t gather the percentage of votes — 45 percent — needed to win an outright majority.

Since Mitsotakis has decided against a coalition bid, the exploratory mandate will be passed on to the second-place party, Syriza, and subsequently to the third-place finisher, Pasok. If no agreement is reached on a coalition, as expected, the parliament elected on Sunday will be sworn in and then dissolved, paving the way for a second round of voting to take place, and a caretaker government will be sworn in.

In Sunday’s results, Mitsotakis managed to gain among voters despite his premiership being burdened with a spying scandal, spiraling inflation, mounting concerns over the rule of law and the handling of a deadly train crash earlier this year.

Voters opted for stability and the country’s continuation of economic recovery, as well as New Democracy’s tough immigration policies. The New York Times published video evidence on Friday of Greek authorities putting asylum seekers on boats and abandoning them — including children.  

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Monday that a formal request has been sent to Greek authorities “that this incident be fully and independently investigated,” adding that the European Commission “stands ready to take formal steps, as appropriate.”

Mitsotakis is now poised for a second term with a strong majority, thanks to a system that grants the winning party in the second round up to 50 bonus seats in the legislature.