Greeks go to the polls for a second time this Sunday, to vote for the next government amid predictions that center-right Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will likely win a majority. Mitsotakis has been prime minister since 2019. The financial markets favor him, as he is seen as a stable and secure choice. Inside Greece, his rule was shadowed, among others, by the fatal train accident in Tempi that cost the life of 57 people and the wiretapping scandal, in which journalists, politicians and others were illegally monitored. "Next Sunday, the country will have a stable government, with the self-reliant New Democracy at the helm," said Mitsotakis in a speech at Nea Moudania, Chalkidiki, northern Greece, on Tuesday. The second vote on Sunday comes after the first elections in May failed to elect an outright majority. Observers say that looks unlikely to be the case this time round. Mitsotakis won by a huge majority in the first round and heads into the second vote to take advantage of election law changes that favor the winning party. Sunday's poll falls under new rules that award a bonus of 25-50 seats to the winning party, depending on its performance. Mitsotakis held his final election rally in Syntagma Square in central Athens where he addressed supporters. Sunday's vote comes days after hundreds of migrants died and went missing in southern Greece when an over-crowded fishing trawler capsized and sank, drawing criticism over how Greek authorities handled the rescue. But the disaster did little to dent Mitsotakis' 20-point lead in opinion polls over left-wing rivals. Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, head of the left-wing Syriza party, served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019 and, at the age of 48, is now fighting for his political survival. Tsipras, whose campaign is focused on defending the health service and welfare state, has failed to make any gains from a series of scandals that hit Mitsotakis late in his term. Hoping to replace Tsipras as the main opposition party is Pasok leader and former MEP Nikos Androulakis. His party has made progress in that respect but analysts and opinion polls suggest that this scenario might take some time to come to pass. Polls open on Sunday morning however the process starts on Saturday (June 24) when Greeks living abroad can vote from their country of residence. "Mitsotakis will be dominant with a comfortable majority," said Petros Ioannidis, political analyst founder of the firm About People. "Usually when you win elections for the first time you have a honeymoon period, in the second term you don't. The paradox here is that, because the opposition has been wiped out, Mitsotakis has a new honeymoon period." Greek bonds and stocks have rallied in the past weeks, reassured that a pro-investment government will prevent any backsliding to the dark days of the eurozone debt crisis. As his next steps, Mitsotakis is pledging to slice back the bloated public sector even further, and reform the health and education sectors. "Mitsotakis is in charge and potentially for the first time is solid in control of his own party," said Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of risk analysis company Teneo. Even though Sunday's winner is already certain, big questions remain over the scale of the conservatives' majority and the fate of the devastated opposition parties on the left that will be less able to hold the government to account. What is clear is that opposition parties will be in disarray in the next parliament. Being so dominant now leaves Mitsotakis no excuse and expectations are also very high, he added. Greece is soon expected to finally regain investment grade status, more than 12 years after losing its rating, marking an end to the dark days of financial crisis. "Investment grade has been priced in for some time, but it's powerful in terms of turning the page, moving away from the old bad memories," said Piccoli. "It's good news for the banks and for also borrowers because it should help to reduce the cost of financing and it would be interesting to see whether the government will be able to exploit this." But Greece is still struggling with many of the weaknesses that have weighed on growth for decades, including a massive bureaucracy, especially in the legal system, and chronic tax evasion. — Agencies
