New Democracy’s election success is a turning point for Greece

With early results showing a resounding victory for the centre-right New Democracy (ND) in the first round of elections in Greece, its beaming leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed a cheering crowd outside the party’s headquarters with the words ‘All of Greece has turned blue! Thank you!’. He has every reason to be satisfied. ND not only managed to hold on to its share of the vote from 2019 but to expand it by around 150,000 votes, bringing them to a comfortable 41 per cent. They won every district across the country but one.

While just shy of a majority, due to the changes in electoral law introduced by Syriza while in government, they are poised to win comfortably in the second round which will follow in late June or early July. Fought under a different set of rules, this rerun could grant ND over 180 seats in the parliament of 300, giving it an indisputable mandate and the power to radically reshape the country’s institutions.

Last night’s results will almost definitely prove to be a seismic shift in the nation’s political landscape, in part because of what happened around ND’s victory.