Author Topic: New Democracy victory  (Read 4007 times)

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Offline Maik

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New Democracy victory
« on: Monday, 08 July, 2019 @ 03:06:36 »
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ND surges to power, promising change

Center-right New Democracy surged to a decisive victory in general elections on Sunday, paving the way for leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis to form a comfortable majority government this week.

With 86.4 percent of votes counted late last night, ND had secured 39.77 percent, over SYRIZA’s 31.55 – a more resilient performance than had been expected. This translates to 158 seats for ND and 86 for SYRIZA.

Center-left Movement for Change (KINAL) came in third with 7.94 percent (22 seats) and the Greek Communist Party (KKE) with 5.35 percent (15 seats).

In one of the most significant developments of the evening, neo-Nazi Golden Dawn was out of Greece’s Parliament after failing to reach the 3 percent threshold with 2.96 percent. \

However, the nationalist, pro-Russian Greek Solution, which drew a significant proportion of GD’s voters, made it into the House with 3.74 percent (10 seats) and MeRA25, the party of former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, secured 3.48 percent (9 seats).
http://www.ekathimerini.com/242319/article/ekathimerini/news/nd-surges-to-power-promising-change


Offline TonyKath

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Re: New Democracy victory
« Reply #1 on: Monday, 08 July, 2019 @ 18:18:07 »
First time a party has had an absolute majority in Greece for a few years.

Tony

Offline Maik

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Re: New Democracy victory
« Reply #2 on: Monday, 08 July, 2019 @ 21:48:28 »
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The three mistakes behind Syriza’s demise in Greece
Alexis Tsipras and his party promised ‘hope is coming’, then refashioned his government as a rightwing force
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/08/syriza-demise-greece-alexis-tsipras


Offline Maik

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Re: New Democracy victory
« Reply #3 on: Monday, 08 July, 2019 @ 23:45:55 »
First time a party has had an absolute majority in Greece for a few years.

Also lowest turnout (despite compulsory participation!) since 1974 - apparently many Greeks preferred the beach to the booths - according to greekreporter.com

Offline Maik

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Re: New Democracy victory
« Reply #4 on: Monday, 08 July, 2019 @ 23:57:13 »
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Greece election: New prime minister faces uphill battle as country grapples with economic crisis, disillusionment and far-right
Analysis: New Democracy win hailed as a defeat of populism and a return-to-normal for Greece – but the reality is more complex

Mr Mitsotakis has promised tax cuts, but these rely on convincing Greece’s creditors to lower the country’s fiscal targets which, as Mr Mouzakis cautioned, is “going to be a hard job”.

Similarly, the prime minister’s plan to attract more foreign investment is going to be tough when there is still a €30bn gap between current and pre-crisis levels.

Mr Mitsotakis, whose father Konstantinos was prime minister in the early 1990s, is seen as a moderate centrist. However, his party contains many nationalist elements and is traditionally close with the Orthodox church. It is also blamed by many for the economic mismanagement that led to the country’s crisis.

Many are celebrating the fact that neo-Nazi Golden Dawn – previously the third-largest party in parliament – failed to gain any seats. However, observers caution that this is not because far-right ideas have disappeared. The new nationalist Greek Solution party split the vote share and won 10 seats in parliament. It is led by conspiracy theorist Kyriakos Velopoulos, who used to claim to sell handwritten letters from Jesus on his TV show.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/greece-election-prime-minister-kyriakos-mitsotakis-party-new-democracy-a8995851.html