Mitsotakis ahead in opinion polls as Greece heads to elections for a second time
Greece is going to the polls for the second time. The polls opened on Sunday morning and will close 12 hours later, at 07:00 PM. While it is a matter of curiosity who will win the elections after the boat disaster, opinion polls give clues about the result.
Greek people are going to the polls for the second time after no candidate secured a majority of votes in the first elections. Polls opened at 07:00 AM local time on Sunday and will close 12 hours later at 07:00 PM.
The outcome of the election is in doubt due to the boat accident in which hundreds of migrants and refugees died or went missing and the economic conditions.
Mitsotakis, 55, is eyeing a second four-year term as prime minister after his New Democracy party won by a huge margin in May but fell fell short of gaining enough parliamentary seats to form a government.
HOW DOES THE NEW SYSTEM WORK?
With a new electoral law now favoring the winning party with bonus seats, he is hoping to win enough seats to form a strong majority in the 300-member parliament.
The new electoral system grants a bonus of between 25 and 50 seats to the winning party, depending on its performance, which makes it easier for a party to win more than the required 151 seats in the parliament to form a government.
SECOND NAME IN ELECTION POLLS TSIPRAS
Mitsotakis faces Alexis Tsipras, the 48-year-old leader of Greece's main opposition Syriza party, who served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019 during the most turbulent years of Greece's nearly decade-long financial crisis.
In the first elections in May, Tsipras finished 20 percentage points behind Mitsotakis' New Democracy party.
Tsipras, who failed to secure a majority in May's elections and lagged behind in opinion polls, is pushing his chances in these elections as well, but Mitsotakis is leading the polls. In the election campaign, the main opposition leader focused heavily on the scandals that hit Mitsotakis' government late in its term.
Despite the scandals, which included revelations of wiretapping targeting senior politicians and journalists, and a deadly February 28 train crash that exposed poor safety measures, Tsipras failed to make any significant gains against Mitsotakis.
HAVE THE POLLS CHANGED AFTER THE BOAT DISASTER?
Sunday's election comes after hundreds of refugees and migrants died or went missing in southern Greece when an overcrowded fishing trawler heading from Libya to Italy capsized and sank, drawing criticism over how Greek authorities handled the rescue.
But the worst disaster in years has not helped Tsipras pull ahead in the polls. The gap between the two leaders in opinion polls is still intact.
MAY ELECTIONS
The strategy, so far, has worked: New Democracy routed left-wing opponents in May, crucially winning Socialist strongholds on the island of Crete and lower-income areas surrounding Athens, some for the first time.
After the parties failed to form a government on their own in the first elections, the coalition process began. But this process also failed to produce results. No party was willing to form a coalition.
Who will be the prime minister of Greece will be decided in the second elections to be held on Sunday.
Source: Al Jazeera
