Who has the right to vote?
More than 9.8 million Greeks are eligible to vote on Sunday to choose members of the unicameral parliament, who serve four-year terms.
Who are the suitors?
The two main candidates for the election are conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, a former Harvard-educated banker, and Alexis Tsipras, 48, who leads the left-wing Syriza party and served as prime minister for some of the most turbulent years of the financial crisis.
Although Mitsotakis has been consistently ahead in opinion polls, the new electoral system based on proportional representation makes it unlikely that anyone who wins the election will be able to secure enough seats in Greece’s 300-member parliament to form a government without seeking opposition. candidate. Coalition partners.
The winner of Sunday’s election will have three days to negotiate a coalition with one or more other parties.
In the event of failure, the mandate to form the government is entrusted to the second party.
The possibility of a coalition
But deep divisions between the two main parties and four smaller parties expected to enter parliament mean it will be difficult to achieve a coalition, making a second election on July 2 likely.
The second elections will be held under a new electoral law that makes it easier for the winning party to form a government by giving it an additional advantage of up to 50 seats.
small parties
A large number of smaller parties are also vying for votes, though only a few are likely to have a chance of reaching the 3% threshold to win seats in Greece’s 300-seat parliament.
The socialist PASOK Party, which once dominated the country’s political life, will likely be at the center of any coalition talks.
PASOK has not been able to exceed 10% of the vote since it was overtaken by Syriza during the Greek financial crisis (2009-2018). Its leader, Nikos Androulakis, 44, was at the center of a wiretapping scandal in which his phone was tapped.
Despite PASOK’s importance in any coalition deal, there is a strained relationship between Androulakis and Mitsotakis, who accuse him of covering up the wiretapping scandal, meaning a deal with the Tories is unlikely . He also has a bad relationship with Tsipras, who accuses him of trying to poach PASOK voters.
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
