Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis casts his vote in Athens, Greece on May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
If all efforts to form a coalition fail, a caretaker government will lead Greece to a second ballot by early July. In the second ballot, a revised electoral system which provides a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party, will be used, facilitating the formation of a single-party government.
ATHENS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Greek ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party led in Sunday's general elections with 41.1 percent of the votes, the first official results announced by the Interior Ministry showed.
Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, won 20 percent of the votes, it added.
Greeks went to the polls on Sunday to elect their representatives in the next 300-member parliament.
Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece's main opposition party, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, casts his vote in Athens, Greece, on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Tatiana Bolari/Xinhua)
According to the estimates, ND will secure 145 seats, falling short of an outright majority, and SYRIZA 71 seats.
With 30.3 percent of the votes counted, five parties that passed the three percent threshold will enter the new parliament, said the Interior Ministry.
The socialists PASOK-KINAL (Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Movement for Change) will receive 12.7 percent of the votes, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 6.7 percent, and the right-wing Elliniki Lysi (Greek Solution) 4.5 percent, according to the estimates.
The final results are expected to be announced on Monday. After that, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give a mandate to the leader of the biggest party to form a new government. Under the constitution, leaders of the top three parties have three days each to form a coalition.
A voter casts her vote in Athens, Greece, on May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
If all efforts fail, a caretaker government will lead Greece to a second ballot by early July. In the second ballot, a revised electoral system which provides a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party, will be used, facilitating the formation of a single-party government.
In the previous general elections in July 2019, ND had won 39.8 percent of the vote with 158 seats in the parliament, and SYRIZA 31.5 percent of the votes with 86 seats. ■
