Greek conservatives win parliamentary majority, declare mandate for change

Kyriakos Mitsotakis
(Image credit: Konstantinos Tsakalidis / Bloomberg via Getty Image)

Greece's conservative New Democracy party won a decisive victory in Sunday's national elections, securing party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis a second four-year term as prime minister.

New Democracy won about 40.5% of the vote, more than twice the 18% earned by the main center-left opposition Syriza party. New Democracy's vote share was about the same as in a first round of voting in May, but under new rules for a second election, the party gained 50 bonus seats, giving it an estimated 158 seats in the 300-seat Parliament. Voter turnout dropped 8 percentage points from May, to 53%.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.