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Former Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks to supporters outside his New Democracy party's headquarters in Athens.
Mitsotakis wins big in Greece
The ruling center-right New Democracy Party of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis is projected to win Sunday's second-round Greek election with 40.5% of the vote. That gives Mitsotakis an outright majority of 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, enough to form a government.
The landslide victory is obviously great news for Mitsotakis, who just months ago looked set to lose the top job following first a wire-tapping scandal and then a deadly train crash that many Greeks blamed on poor maintenance. What's more, with his comfortable majority, in his second term the PM will be able to pass significant reforms to the country's famously bloated and outdated public sector.
It's also a boon for the Greek economy, which is one step away from regaining its investment-grade credit rating 12 years after losing it and ultimately being downgraded to junk status over the debt crisis. Now might be a good time to park your disposable cash in Greece.
But the result is pretty bad news if you're on the left side of the political spectrum. The hard-left Syriza Party — which was in power for several years before Mitsotakis and saved Greece from bankruptcy and a eurozone exit — got walloped at the ballot box, while two far-right parties unexpectedly surpassed the 3% of the vote threshold to enter parliament.
"New Democracy’s victory follows the similar experience of other southern EU member states, which are returning to the right having tacked left after the eurozone's debt crisis," tweeted Mij Rahman, Eurasia Group's top Europe expert. "Italy is a case in point.” Expect Spain to continue the trend after the July 23 snap election.
Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses supporters during a pre-election rally by the island of Salamina.
Where We’re Voting: Greece, Guatemala, Sierra Leone
Got any weekend plans? You should be headed to the polls if you live in Greece, Guatemala, or Sierra Leone.
Greece. About a month ago, the ruling center-right New Democracy Party of Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis swept the parliamentary election with a better-than-expected 40+% of the vote. But since it fell just a few seats short of a parliamentary majority, Mitsotakis called a second round, where different rules make it easier for the top finisher to form a government.
New Democracy will probably win a comfortable majority — a remarkable turnaround for the Greek government just months after the twin crises of a wiretapping scandal and a deadly train crash. Don't expect many voters to sour on Mitsotakis even after the recent shipwreck tragedy because most Greeks appreciate his "tough but fair" stance on migrants.
Guatemala. Most Guatemalans are not feeling upbeat about the strength of their democracy. Turnout for the first-round presidential election in the Central American country will probably be very low since many people don't see the point in showing up for a vote pre-rigged by the courts that disqualified the three main opposition candidates.
There are three main contenders to replace term-limited President Alejandro Giammattei: former first lady Sandra Torres, a centrist; Edmond Mulet, a center-right former diplomat; and Zury Ríos, the far-right daughter of former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. The three are neck-and-neck in the polls, with Mulet favored to beat Torres in the runoff in a nation whose flawed democracy means many Guatemalans will continue trying to migrate to the US.
Sierra Leone. If you're Sierra Leonean, you don't take elections for granted. After all, this is only the sixth vote since the country ended a bloody civil war 21 years ago. But that doesn't mean things will go smoothly: British actor Idris Elba, whose dad is from Sierra Leone, tweeted a video calling for peace at the polling stations.
The vote will be all about the economy, stupid. Sierra Leoneans are being crushed by sky-high inflation, which in Aug. 2022 triggered social unrest in the capital, Freetown. Still, President Julius Maada Bio will likely win a second and final term against opposition leader Samura Kamara, who Bio already beat (lol) in 2018.Pakistani Hassan Ali shows a photo of his brother who died in a shipwreck off the Greek coast.
Who’s responsible for the Greek migrant tragedy?
Nine alleged people smugglers have been arrested in Greece after hundreds of migrants drowned last week in one of the worst migrant tragedies in Europe in over a decade. The men, all Egyptian nationals, appeared in court Tuesday, while a handful of others were reportedly also arrested in Pakistan, where most of the victims came from.
So far, 81 bodies have been found, and 104 people have been rescued, but it is thought that roughly 750 were on board the rickety fishing boat when it capsized on June 14, having departed Libya bound for Italy.
But there is still much that remains unclear about the series of events. And the Greek Coast Guard, for its part, has come under fire for continuously changing its story, first saying that it was rebuffed when it tried to help the boat and then claiming that there weren’t signs the vessel was in distress for some time. (New reporting, however, suggests that the boat was stuck for seven hours before it sank.)
Right-leaning Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed the smugglers, stopping short of criticizing the Coast Guard. Mitsotakis, for his part, has called his approach to migration “tough but fair,” but he stands accused of overseeing a policy of boat “pushbacks” deemed illegal by international law.
Still, why change if this has been working for him? Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy Party reaped 40% of the vote in last month’s general election (second place reaped 20%) and is hoping for an even bigger win when Greeks head to the polls this Sunday for a second round. We’ll be watching to see whether Mitsotakis clinches a parliamentary majority.
Supporters of the conservative New Democracy party celebrate their election victory in Athens.
Hard Numbers: Greek election landslide, Jerusalem tension, US border post-Title 42, what Africa wants from Russia/Ukraine, US-PNG security deal
40.79: The center-right ruling party of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis won the Greek election on Sunday with an overwhelming 40.79% of the vote — but fell just short of an outright majority in parliament. If coalition talks fail, there will be a second vote on June 25 that’ll make it easier for the party with the most seats to form a government.
2: On Sunday, Israel’s far-right provocateur Itamar Ben-Gvir visited a very sensitive religious site in Jerusalem for the second time since becoming security minister in PM Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government. "Israel is in charge," Ben-Gvir proclaimed after touring the al-Aqsa Mosque complex (known to Jews as the Temple Mount) amid rising tensions with the Palestinians and Jordan, the custodian of the site.
4,000: Since the US ended Title 42, authorities are reporting some 4,000 daily encounters at the southern border, down from 10,000 the previous week. That's in part because many migrants rushed to cross before the policy changed and also due to Mexico moving asylum-seekers away from there and its own border with Guatemala.
6: Next month, a delegation of leaders from six African nations — South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Zambia — will meet separately with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. Apart from talking about peace, the top agenda items are payments for Russian fertilizer and getting more grain shipped out of Ukraine.
45 million: Despite President Biden canceling a planned trip and strong internal opposition, the US and Papua New Guinea on Monday signed a security pact aimed at countering China in the Pacific. According to a leaked draft copy, the deal provides $45 million for PNG to bolster its defense capabilities in exchange for US forces getting access to airspace and ports.
Supporters of Greek opposition leader of Syriza party attend a pre-election speech in Athens
Greece’s “lost generation” election
This Sunday, Greeks head to the polls for the country’s most tightly contested election in recent memory.
PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy Party leads the polls right now and hopes that falling inflation, rising tourism revenues, and strong economic growth will help them stay in charge.
But the hard left-wingers of Syriza, who lost power in the 2019 election, are close behind. They’ve pledged to raise wages and boost pensions, while also reminding voters that Greece’s worst-ever train wreck came on Mitsotakis’ watch and that his government was caught spying on other politicians. The social democrats of PASOK are polling third, with promises to address climate change, inequality, and corruption.
A big X-factor is the youth vote, representing a “lost generation” whose opportunities were suffocated by a decade of economic and financial strife. Today, nearly a quarter of young Greeks are jobless. For them, Syriza is promising to scrap university entry requirements, while New Democracy is offering to pay people 150 euros just for turning 18.
Polling suggests that there won’t be a clear winner. With New Democracy and Syriza about as compatible politically as oil and water, PASOK could be a kingmaker in coalition talks. But if those talks fail, Greeks of all ages will have to gear up for another election later this summer.