In the second and final national election contest in Greece, the conservative and far-right forces have triumphed. The left suffered a crushing defeat, while abstention exceeded 47%. Only the conservative left, expressed by the KKE, emerged stronger, while MeRA25 was left out of parliament. In detail:
New Democracy won 40.75% of the vote, which corresponds to 158 seats. It comes out very strengthened in this Parliament, taking into account that it faced the pandemic crisis and imposed neoliberal policies without losing force, but rather increasing it compared to the 2019 elections.
SYRIZA won 17.84%, which corresponds to 48 seats. It suffered a big defeat compared to the 2019 elections, when it received – governing for four years – 31.53% – 86 seats. Its opposition will be institutionally weak, as it loses several privileges due to the low number of seats, such as the right to file an impeachment trial or to file a motion of investigation in cooperation with other parties.
The Movement for Change – PASOK increased its percentages and seats, receiving 11.85% and 32 parliamentary seats (compared to 8.10% and 22 seats in 2019).
The Communist Party of Greece – KKE obtained 7.69% and thus increased its seats by five [20], compared to 2019 [15].
This quartet [ND, SYRIZA, PASOK, KKE] remains the same in the initial ranking as in the 2019 elections and in this order.
The nightmare of the far-right hits harder again
A negative surprise – once again after almost a decade – was the vote share of the far right, especially expressed by the Spartans party, which has made public that it has the support of Elias Kasidiaris and even from inside prison, where he is under a first instance conviction for involvement in the Golden Dawn criminal organisation. The Spartans participated for the first time in the elections and obtained 4.64% of the vote and 12 seats. It is worth noting that Vassilis Stigas, president of this party formed in 2017, was a former member of Politiki Aniksi, a party created by the most conservative president of New Democracy and former living prime minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras.
A large group of the electorate puts the far-right’s share at 12.77%, adding to the Spartans the forces gathered by two other parties: the Hellenic Solution and an also new party, Niki. According to another version, the Pleisi Eleftherias party, led by Zoe Konstantopoulou, also adds to the increase in the percentage of the extreme right. This remains to be seen in the coming months of the new parliament, as the parties’ programmes are not very clear and unambiguous about their positions.
The rise of the far right, as expressed in the 25 June elections, aligns Greece with a pattern that is repeated in several European countries: the total prevalence of the most extreme neoliberal right, with a substantial shift of the electorate and parties much further to the right.
The debate on political responsibilities, the signs of the times pushing in this direction and the responses needed to open up the future is a long one and is already and will be a major preoccupation for all our agency’s newsrooms in Europe and the world.