Greek conservatives win election, pledge more reforms

Athens, June 26 (IANS) Greek conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised more reforms at a faster pace after his New Democracy party (ND) won the second general election in five weeks and an outright majority in Parliament.

With 95 per cent of votes counted, ND garnered 40.55 per cent of the ballots, securing 158 seats in the next 300-member Parliament to form a single-party government, Xinhua news agency reported citing official results published by the Interior Ministry early Monday.

"We received a strong mandate to proceed faster on the path of reforms our country needs," Mitsotakis told media at the party's headquarters late Sunday night.

"ND is today the most powerful centre-right party in Europe," he said, adding that during his second term in office, Greece will change further, while pledging more prosperity for all.

The Leftists of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance garnered 17.84 per cent of the votes and the socialists of PASOK- KINAL (Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Movement for Change) gained 11.88 per cent.

A total of eight parties are expected to enter the next Parliament, after passing the three-percentage threshold of the votes needed under the electoral law.

On Monday, President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give a mandate to Mitsotakis to form a new government.

The first election on May 21 ended inconclusive. Frontrunner ND failed to secure an outright parliamentary majority due to how the electoral system was used.

Since there was no agreement to form a coalition government in May, a caretaker government was appointed to lead the country to the second ballot.

In the second ballot on Sunday, a revised electoral system was used which provided a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party.

In the 2019 general elections, ND won 39.8 per cent of the votes with 158 seats in Parliament.

Under Greek rules for a second election, the biggest party is awarded a bonus of between 20 and 50 seats.

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