The results of the early parliamentary elections in Greece

The results of the early parliamentary elections in Greece

Who will carry out the Greek reforms which the government of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who resigned after part of his party stood against the austerity measures, committed to in exchange for provision of a third rescue package? Greeks made the decision in early parliamentary elections, which were held on 20 September.

Pre-election forecasts gave similar chances to the leftist Syriza and the center-right New Democracy parties. It was therefore clear that ultimately the most important thing wouldn’t be who won the election formally, but who could put together a viable coalition capable of implementing the necessary reforms.

Third place was attributed in advance to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. Other parties expected to gain seats in the Parliament were the socialist Pasok party, the centrist party Potami, and also the extreme left-wing Popular Unity party, which split off from Syriza, and the Independent Greeks, who were part of the coalition in Tsipras‘ government.

And the results? The following morning confirmed the victory of Syriza. Alexis Tsipras won with a fairly large margin of almost seven per cent - the count showed that he won 35.46% of votes, while the conservative New Democracy party only obtained 28.10%.

Parliamentary elections in Greece (v %)

The neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn finished in third place winning 6.99% of the votes cast. The socialist party Pasok received 6.28% and the Greek Communist Party got 5.55%.

The right-wing party Independent Greeks, with which Syriza is likely to again form a coalition, received 3.69% of the votes for Parliament. Together they will have a majority of three hundred parliamentary seats (145 + 75).

The centrist party Potami also advanced and the centrist union, Popular Unity, which split off from Syriza before the elections, remained below the three percent threshold to enter parliament. There was not much interest in the election itself. Only 56.57% of eligible voters participated in it, which is less than in January, when voter turnout reached 63.6%.

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