A first assessment of the elections of May 21, 2023 was carried out by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Athens (Representation for Greece and Cyprus), which is signed by its director, Marian Wedt.

“For the first time, New Democracy won all constituencies with the exception of the constituency of Rodopi (with a strong Muslim minority which is partly influenced by the Turkish Consulate General in Komotini). In the parliamentary elections of 21 May 2023, Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy/ND) managed not only to win another term as prime minister, but to maintain and strengthen his political dominance.

»The ND achieves an almost absolute majority of seats (the simple proportional rule applied with 3% as the threshold for entering the Parliament). The result is the culmination of a continuous process that began with his election to the leadership of the ND in 2016. Since 1974, there has not been an election in which the government has been strengthened so much and the opposition has been weakened so significantly,” says the analysis.

He emphasizes that the result is even more impressive if we take into account the “challenges of the last four years: the pandemic, the political surveillance scandal, the acute Turkish provocations, the immigration pressure, the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences, the train accident of Tempos and finally an electoral system that favored the smaller parties”.

The reasons for Mitsotakis’ electoral success according to the Adenauer Foundation, which is close to the Christian Democratic Party of Germany (CDU), are as follows:

The first is objectively good financial data, specifically “economic growth of 3-5% (above the EU average), a significant increase in foreign investment, a return to international financial markets and a significant drop in unemployment. At the same time, labor market reforms and the digitization of the state (a typical example is the vaccination process during the pandemic) strengthened the government.”

The second reason is the restoration of the country’s reputation abroad. “The image of Greece today is not what it was in the 2010s” it is noted and the government’s stance on the issue of Ukraine, the rational and moderate responses to the Turkish provocations and the corresponding investments for the country’s security and outstanding representation abroad (eg influence within the European People’s Party and the Prime Minister’s address to the US Congress)’.

Finally, he estimates that the third important reason of the electoral success of K. Mitsotakis was the lack of a substantial opposition from SYRIZA. “During the last pre-election period, there was no set of measures or proposals from Syriza on how they want to govern and shape the country.” According to the Adenauer Foundation, SYRIZA has engaged in a partly harsh rhetoric against the government and concludes that “this lack of constructive opposition by SYRIZA is linked to the strengthening of PASOK as an opposition force”.