Country embraces right-wing parliament comprising far-right, populist, neo-Nazi parties along with conservative party
In Greece’s general elections on Sunday, the conservative New Democracy party led by former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis won a landslide victory with 98% of the votes counted so far.
According to the results announced by the Interior Ministry, the New Democracy party won 40.56% of the votes, with SYRIZA gaining 17.83%, down from 20.07 % from previous elections held on May 21.
The New Democracy won an outright majority in the parliament to form a single-party government with the 158 seats it secured in the 300-seat parliament.
The social democratic PASOK party received 11.86%, while the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) became the fourth largest with 7.67% of the votes.
Meanwhile, the far-right Spartans party, which was openly backed by imprisoned lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris of the banned neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, won over 4.68% of the votes and entered the parliament for the first time.
Also, the far-right, populist Greek Solution party and the far-right, religious Niki (Victory) party were others that passed the 3% electoral threshold and entered the parliament, with 4.45% and 3.70%, respectively.
The polls also show that the Sailing for Freedom party founded by former Parliament Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou secured seats in the parliament with 3.17%, while the MeRA25 led by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras’ former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stayed out of the parliament with 2.46%.
The turnout rate in Sunday's elections was only 52.75%, down from 61.1% in the May 21 elections.
- Reactions by party leaders
Addressing his supporters in front of the party building, Mitsotakis said they will rule the country without arrogance and will accelerate the reforms.
Accepting the defeat, which he called "heavy," SYRIZA leader Tsipras stressed that three far-right parties will be in the new parliament.
He added that the party will undergo a serious change in the face of the election defeat.
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis, in his brief speech, underlined the rise of neo-Nazis and extremists in the country's political scene.
Similarly, KKE's leader Dimitris Koutsoubas noted the strong presence of the far-right parties, saying the days will be tough but that they will be at the forefront of the struggle against capitalist-class and imperialism.
Vassilis Stigas, the head of the Spartans party, thanked Kasidiaris for his support, which, he said, played a significant role in the party's unexpected victory.
Dimitris Natsios, the leader of the another extreme-right party Niki, said in a statement that they will fight for Hellenism and common people.
