The general election in Greece ended earlier this week in quite the political turnaround. The ruling party for the past four years, the far-left Syriza party, was defeated and replaced by the conservative right-wing New Democracy party.
Over the past decade, ever since the country was hit by a severe economic crisis, the Greeks adopted the practice of believing campaign promises, being immediately disappointed and replacing one government with another every few years. The economic crisis erupted when the socialist George Papandreou was in power. After a few years, he was replaced by right-wing leader Antonis Samaras, who was defeated in 2015 by left-winger Alexis Tsipras. Now Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a conservative, is in power.
The new prime minister hails from a prominent political family. His father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, was prime minister from 1990 to 1993. His sister, Theodora "Dora" Bakoyanni, was foreign minister and mayor of Athens; and his nephew, Kostas Bakoyannis โ Dora's son โ is the current mayor of Athens.
The election results were unequivocal: The conservatives won 39.85% of the votes, and in accordance with Greek law received a "bonus" of 50 additional parliamentarians (out of 300), to ensure government stability. Mitsotakis now wields parliamentary majority with 158 seats, which essentially absolves him from having to form a coalition. The day following the election he was already sworn into office and on Tuesday he presented his government, which includes senior party officials and several technocrats.
The challenges Mitsotakis now faces are complex. Over the past decade, the Greeks have received three separate packages from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, totaling some โฌ300 billion ($340 billion), to save their economy. Regardless, the crisis refuses to abate. Unemployment is still rampant and the market hasn't recovered. Amid this backdrop, the election was won, and now the Greek public will be looking for results. Mitsotakis has promised to lower taxes, create jobs, limit the public sector and implement measures proposed by the lenders to rehabilitate the economy. The burden of proof is now his.
The election results are also noteworthy from Israel's perspective. Diplomatic relations between Athens and Jerusalem have improved markedly since 2010, and are exceedingly solid despite the frequent power shifts in Greece. These relations, which include significant security cooperation, are expected to further improve under the new government.
Konstantinos Mitsotakis, the father of the newly elected prime minister, upgraded diplomatic relations between the countries to ambassador level in 1990. Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Israel last year and vowed to upgrade these relations even more. His new foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, who has previously held the country's defense and internal security portfolios, is an established friend of Israel.
In another bit of good news for Israel, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, which held 18 seats in the outgoing parliament, failed to pass the electoral threshold and now has zero parliamentary representation. It has demanded a recount, which it likely won't get.
