RESULTS: The leftist party of the Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras has arrived clearly behind the conservatives at European Elections in Greece
He heard the message from the ballot box. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras , whose leftist party has been heavily sanctioned in European elections and local elections, announced Sunday night that he would convene early elections in June, four months before the end of his term. His party Syriza was outshot by more than 9 points by the main opposition party, New Democracy (ND, right), according to partial official results.
“After the second round of local elections (June 2), I will ask the president to immediately hold national elections,” Alexis Tsipras said in a televised address. “I will not flee or abandon the fight for equality, solidarity and social justice,” he said, visibly disappointed in his party’s bad score.
Probably the 30th of June
The anticipated national elections will probably be held on June 30, according to the Greek media. In power for four years, Alexis Tsipras, 44, had made the European vote a vote of confidence in his policy, while his term expires in October and legislative elections were scheduled for this deadline.
Only, with less than 24% of Syriza’s votes, according to partial results, Alexis Tsipras has obviously failed to capitalise on the successes he boasted about, in particular the return of Greece to the financial markets and the exit of the programs. rigour dictated by creditors, EU and IMF, to deal with the debt crisis.
Despite the recovery of the economy since 2017 and improving macroeconomic performance, the Greeks are struggling to recover from a deep recession and suffer from an unemployment rate of 18%, the highest in the eurozone. The package of measures aimed at easing the tax burden and helping retirees has clearly not been enough to seduce an electorate tired of the austerity policy.
The neo-Nazi party down
Sunday’s triple poll, in which the Greeks also voted for the municipal and regional, was considered a crucial test for the government majority. Partial results for the Europeans (35% of the ballots counted) give their party to nearly 24%, while ND is credited with more than 33%, according to the website of the Ministry of the Interior.
The Socialist Party of Kinal comes third, at 7%, in front of KKE communists to more than 5%, according to the polls out of the polls. The Golden Dawn neo-Nazi party won nearly 5% of the vote, down nearly 5 points from the 2014 elections, while a new nationalist party, the Greek Solution, is making progress at its expense, garnering more than 4% voices.
