Greece is heading to the polls on Sunday to elect a new leader, marking a significant departure from the past decade where the prime minister was largely confined to steering the country’s economy. Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking a second term, having delivered unexpectedly high growth, a steep drop in unemployment, and a country on the brink of returning to investment grade on the global bond market. However, his centre-right New Democracy party may struggle to return to power as Greece’s voters and political parties emerge from a prolonged battle for survival.
The country has been subject to a draconian regime of spending controls since 2010, when European governments and the IMF pumped 280 billion euros into the economy to prevent bankruptcy. In return, they demanded punishing cost-cutting measures and reforms. The severe recession and years of emergency borrowing left Greece with a whopping national debt of 400 billion euros, hammering household incomes that will likely need another decade to recover. The economic turmoil also left ordinary Greeks with private debt, low wages, and job insecurity.
PM Mitsotakis (Via Mitsotakis/Twitter)
Mitsotakis lost his long-standing double-digit lead in opinion polls following a February 28 rail disaster that killed 57 people, many of them university students. The government’s handling of the disaster has been criticized, and a murky surveillance scandal has also deepened mistrust among political parties. Six political parties are set to gain national representation, ranging from Nato-sceptic nationalists to a Communist Party.
The far-right Greeks Party was banned from participating, and Alexis Tsipras, a former prime minister, is leading the opposition, focusing on the rail disaster and wire-tapping scandal. Opinion polls indicate that Sunday’s election will not produce an outright winner, and a second election in early July may be needed. Even then, current polling data suggests Mitsotakis may be forced into a coalition, with the once-powerful socialist Pasok party potentially holding the balance of power.
Over 9.8 million Greeks are eligible to vote in Sunday’s general election, with new provisions allowing citizens living abroad to vote and lowering the voting age to 17. The Interior Ministry estimates that 80% of the vote will be counted by 10pm.
