The leftist newspaper Tageszeitung (TAZ) notes on its website that “it was no exaggeration to mention Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a ‘political earthquake’ on Sunday afternoon. The New Democracy of conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis won the parliamentary elections in Greece with an overwhelming lead. The left-wing SYRIZA of his predecessor, Alexis Tsipras, was demoted in an unexpectedly harsh way.”

The commentator says that for SYRIZA the result was “absolute failure” and tries to give an explanation: “One of the reasons is that SYRIZA indulged in a head-on conflict, seeking to highlight mistakes and omissions of the Mitsotakis government, without contrasting a convincing program of its own. Above all, SYRIZA failed to answer the question of how it will finance in a safe and reliable way the additional government spending it had announced. In addition, a few days before the election, a statement made by the former SYRIZA Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Giorgos Katrougalos, that a SYRIZA government would significantly increase insurance contributions for the self-employed and freelancers caused confusion. It was an ‘own goal in the last minute’, as the analysts unanimously decided.”

The Bavarian newspaper speaks of a “punitive” vote for SYRIZA Mercury which, on the day after the elections, states: “Mitsotakis does not have much room for choice in terms of possible government partners. An alliance with the punished (by the voters) SYRIZA is not discussed, among other things because the president of the party Alexis Tsipras had organized his entire pre-election campaign as a rival to Mitsotakis and personally attacked the prime minister”. The poor electoral performance of SYRIZA is also mentioned by Süddeutsche Zeitungwhich argues that “after Sunday’s poor election result, with SYRIZA losing more than 11 percentage points compared to 2019, voices are beginning to be heard for a change of leadership in the party”.

“Clear victory»

Most of the German media reports focus on the winner of the election and speak of a “clear” or “overwhelming” victory for Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “Mitsotakis wins clearly. And he wants it all” is his title Spiegel Online. In response from Athens, he points out that “with a percentage of almost 41%, Mitsotakis has improved the percentage of the conservative New Democracy by only one point compared to the last elections, in 2019, but this does not reflect the full extent of the success for the prime minister ». The German magazine estimates that “now Mitsotakis is in the privileged position of being able to cause the failure of the negotiations for the formation of a coalition government.”

“Major victory of Mitsotakis in Greece” states the newspaper in a front page article Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). As he reports, “based on the provisional results, his party, the conservative New Democracy, which has governed independently since 2019, receives around 40% of the vote. This result means that Mitsotakis could even win an absolute majority of seats in the repeat elections, which he is seeking in June or July.”

“Clear victory for the Conservatives in Athens” is its title Tagesspiegel. The Berlin newspaper notes that “due to the new electoral system, it remains unclear whether Mitotakis will manage to form a government. In the event that he is unable to form a governing coalition or, in any case, wishes to govern alone, the Greeks will have to go to the polls again in July.” However, as the Berlin newspaper points out, “Mitsotakis does not have many alternatives in terms of possible government partners. An alliance with SYRIZA is not even discussed, while a coalition with the social democrats is not even considered possible.”

“The economy in focus»

THE Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) makes a comparison of the international impact of the elections in Greece and Turkey and notes: “Gone are the days when the Greek elections caused nervousness throughout Europe. The fact that Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Greece did not stir the waters, of course, also has to do with the competition from the great neighbor to Anatolia. Anyone who was looking for an electoral contest of strategic importance in the south-east of our continent these days turned his gaze to Turkey. The fact that, between the two rounds of the Turkish presidential election, the Greeks elect a new government, was often not considered worthy of anything more than a side note in the international news. Even the Greek media sometimes gave the impression that the most important electoral contest for the next country is being held in the ancient enemy, on the other side of the Aegean”.

The Swiss newspaper estimates that economic issues were of decisive importance for the outcome of the elections. As the columnist argues, “Mitsotakis’ account is not as rosy as he presented it during the pre-election campaign. The management of the pandemic was anything but good, with the exception of the first wave. The promise to cut red tape has not been fulfilled, only roughly so. Public debt remains the highest in the entire eurozone, at 170% of GDP. However, the majority of Greeks believe that the serious and measured Mitsotakis is more likely to solve the country’s burning problems. The world’s main concern is about high inflation. In terms of purchasing power, the Greeks are in the penultimate position in the EU. A development policy is more promising than Tsipras’ economic policy, which focuses exclusively on (income) redistribution.”