- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
CMSC | 0.12% | 24.739 | $ | |
RBGPF | 2.84% | 61.23 | $ | |
BCC | 0.72% | 143.4 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
JRI | -0.34% | 13.205 | $ | |
RIO | 0.53% | 67.585 | $ | |
SCS | 0.31% | 12.95 | $ | |
NGG | 0.98% | 66.895 | $ | |
BCE | -1.6% | 32.5 | $ | |
GSK | 0.74% | 39.121 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.43% | 7.03 | $ | |
RELX | 1.09% | 47.345 | $ | |
BTI | 0.78% | 35.455 | $ | |
AZN | 1.03% | 78.155 | $ | |
VOD | 0.26% | 9.675 | $ | |
BP | -0.53% | 31.94 | $ |
Mitsotakis on course to return as Greek PM in new vote
After an inconclusive election in May, Greece returns to the ballot box next Sunday with conservative former prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on course to win a second straight four-year term.
Polls show that Mitsotakis' New Democracy party is in line to be the clear winner, with between 40 and 43.9 percent of the vote.
Mitsotakis, 55, last month cruised to victory with a score of 40.79 percent, more than 20 points ahead of his nearest rival, former leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
But he fell short of a workable parliamentary majority and declined to form a coalition government.
A Pulse poll for private Skai TV last week said nine out of 10 New Democracy voters would vote conservative again on Sunday.
Mitsotakis says that under his stewardship, Greeks paid lower taxes and the country became a success story attractive to investors, posting growth above the European average and returning tourism revenue to nearly pre-pandemic levels.
- 'Growth will continue' -
"I promise Greeks that (economic) growth will continue," he told Skai TV last week.
"We are more experienced, more prepared and more determined."
Mitsotakis' critics counter that he showered billions of euros on political allies and friendly media, tried to bury a major wiretapping scandal and attempted to dodge responsibility for Greece's worst train disaster in February.
This time, Harvard graduate and former McKinsey financial consultant Mitsotakis faces a challenge on his right that could determine the size of his parliamentary group.
A new hard-right party, Niki, narrowly missed out on parliamentary seats in May and is now polling over the required 3 percent threshold, as is the established nationalist party Greek Solution.
Another new party, Plefsi Eleftherias, headed by hard leftist former parliament speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou is also likely to clinch parliamentary representation.
And former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis also seeks election under the radical left MeRa25 party.
If eight parties succeed in entering parliament on Sunday, the winner will need a higher percentage of the vote to maximise their parliamentary group in the 300-seat chamber.
Mitsotakis has been criticised for warning that a third election could be held in August, at the height of the busy tourism season, if a government cannot be formed after Sunday.
- A final vote? -
Last month, the former PM blamed deep policy differences with his closest rivals, leftist leader Alexis Tsipras and socialist head Nikos Androulakis, for his refusal to form a coalition government after May's ballot.
And he has declined to cooperate with any hard-right party.
The upcoming election is held under new rules that give the winner a bonus of up to 50 seats, facilitating efforts to form a single-party government.
The vote will be conducted in the shadow of a migrant boat disaster on June 14 that claimed 78 lives, with hundreds more feared missing and unlikely to be found.
But the tragedy, which has been declared Greece's worst maritime accident, is not expected to heavily influence the election result.
The election could also spell the end of Tsipras' 15-year control of the leftist Syriza party, as he has already lost five electoral contests to Mitsotakis.
The son of a prime minister and uncle of the current mayor of Athens, Mitsotakis also touts his administration's defence spending and a tough policy on migration.
After the May 21 ballot, he boasted that all but one of the country's 59 electoral regions had "turned blue", the colour of the New Democracy party.
He then vowed to wrest the last remaining region, Rodopi, from Syriza.
But the ex-PM raised eyebrows by claiming that it was interference from historic rival Turkey among the area's Greek Muslim minority that had helped Syriza secure the region.
"There was very strong interference from the Turkish consulate in favour of specific (Syriza) candidates... with (SMS) messages that said 'Turks support Turks'," he told Skai TV last week.
H.Cho--CPN