ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s opposition leader received an invitation Tuesday to form the country’s next government — and was summarily rejected, two days after general elections fell short of a majority in parliament and are widely expected to be next. The month is expected to trigger a new vote.
Alexis Tsipras’s left-wing Syriza party suffered a landslide defeat in Sunday’s elections but was front-runner to receive a mandate and has already signaled it would be bound to reject it.
The centre-right New Democracy of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis won the election and swiftly ruled out the option of seeking a coalition. A second vote would benefit them, and is likely to lead to an outright victory, which would change the electoral system in favor of the winning party.
Mitsotakis, 55, won just over 40% of the vote on Sunday, defeating his main rival by 20 points. He promised to continue pro-business reforms, tougher policies to combat illegal immigration and higher defense spending as Greece recovered from a major financial crisis in the last decade.
Under the constitution, the first three parties are given up to three days to try and form a government before parliament is dissolved and a new election is called.
Tsipras, who was received on Tuesday by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, now faces a challenge for third place from the centre-left PSOK party, which once dominated Greek politics but has been decimated during a financial crisis and a series of painful international bailouts. There was a decline in popular support.
He said, ‘I have no reason to hide that the election result is a painful shock for us. Unexpected and painful,” Tsipras, the 48-year-old former prime minister, said after Tuesday’s meeting.
Tsipras said he was not considering stepping down, but promised to fight to try and prevent the dominance of the conservatives.
“If these (current) results are repeated, imagine an all-powerful, non-accountable ruler-prime minister,” he told reporters outside the president’s official residence.
“In its first four years in power, this government demonstrated that it has no respect for the rule of law, democracy or political pluralism…so the bigger picture is to stop an unclear, unaccountable, authoritarian and arrogant government Needed. “
Derek Gatopoulos, The Associated Press
Source
