Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Conservative Trounces Incumbent Prime Minister in Greek Election

Conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be sworn in as Greece's new prime minister Monday, a day after his resounding win over left-wing Alexis Tsipras, who led the country through the tumultuous final years of its international bailouts.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be sworn in as Greece's new prime minister Monday, a day after his resounding win over left-wing Alexis Tsipras, who led the country through the tumultuous final years of its international bailouts.

Mitsotakis' New Democracy party won 39.8% of the vote, giving him 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, a comfortable governing majority. Tsipras' Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, garnered 31.5%. The extremist right-wing Golden Dawn, Greece's third largest party during the height of the financial crisis, failed to make the 3% threshold to enter parliament.

Mitsotakis will have to move fast to deal with the myriad problems still plaguing the economy. Europe's finance ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday and will be discussing Greece, which still has stringent fiscal targets to meet even though it doesn't directly receive bailout loans.

"I assume the governance of the country with full awareness of the national responsibility," Mitsotakis said in his victory speech Sunday night. "I know of the difficulties that lie ahead for me and for my associates. But I draw strength from the strength of the people."

Greece's economy shrank by a quarter, and poverty and unemployment levels soared during the country's nearly decade-long financial crisis. Although its finances are on the mend and the economy is expected to grow by 2.2% this year, it still has a long way to go to make up the economic output lost.

The country's debt stands at about 181% of annual GDP and has pledged to continue producing large primary surpluses — the budget excluding debt servicing — for years to come.

Mitsotakis said Sunday he would stick to his campaign pledges of reducing taxes, attracting investments and cutting through red tape to make Greece more business-friendly.

Categories / International, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...