GREECE’S RULING centre-right New Democracy (ND) party came first by an impressive margin in an election held on May 21st; but it failed to secure an outright majority in parliament. It now looks likely that another election will have to be held, probably in June or July, as the moderate socialist party, Pasok, has ruled out joining a coalition government under ND’s leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Mr Mitsotakis is not interested in forming a coalition at this stage either.

With over 90% of ballots counted, ND was leading with 40.8%, to an unexpectedly dismal 20.1% for the radical left-wing Syriza party, which had been in office until 2019. Pasok trailed in third place on 11.6%. But it looks as though Mr Mitsotakis will fall a few seats short of a majority in the 300-member parliament.

Still, the result puts the prime minister in pole position to win a second term, under a revised proportional voting system that will give whichever party gets the most votes a sliding bonus of between 20 and 50 extra seats. A caretaker prime minister would normally be appointed to run the country until that second election is held assuming, as seems probable, that no coalition can be formed.

Two small parties, the hard-right Hellenic Solution and the Communist Party of Greece, were also set to win the minimum 3% of the vote needed to take seats in parliament. But it seemed that Mera25, the radical left-wing party of Yanis Varoufakis, Syriza’s former finance minister, would fall below the threshold.

Analysts ruled out the possibility of a former premier, Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Syriza, forming a coalition government with Pasok if ND also falls short of a majority in the next election (unlikely if the figures on May 21st are replicated, once the bonus is added in). “It’s more likely if the gap is tight that New Democracy could persuade a handful of socialist personalities to defect and make up the numbers,” one pollster said.

Syriza’s unexpectedly poor showing suggested it had failed to rally most of the 400,000 new voters aged between 16 and 21, contrary to pollsters’ forecasts. In recent elections the under-24 age group has mostly backed left-wing parties; with youth unemployment estimated to be over 25%, new voters are fearful about their job prospects.

The young were especially angry about a disastrous train accident in February, blamed on negligence by rail employees and outdated signalling systems, in which more than 50 people, mostly students, died. “It’s sad we are still so far behind Europe on basic management practices,” said Charalambos, an 18-year-old economics student.

But the election made clear that ND’s appeal to older voters is still strong. Conservative candidates campaigned on the government’s solid record of restoring economic stability. They cited Syriza’s chaotic early months in power in 2015, which took Greece to the brink of a disorderly exit from the euro followed by three years of harsh austerity. No longer under post-bailout surveillance by the EU, the economy is set to grow by 2.4% this year, above the projected euro-zone average.

Yet inflation remains a worry. Though the rate has come down sharply, to only 3% year-on-year in April, earlier huge increases in food prices have curtailed household spending. Tourists rather than locals are filling restaurants around Athens at the start of the season. According to EU statistics, almost a third of Greeks are still at risk of poverty.

Despite the economic rebound, some Greeks worry about a revival of what they call the “traditional authoritarian attitudes” of right-of-centre governments. Greece again came last among EU countries in this year’s global press-freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders. European officials are investigating a wiretapping scandal in which the state intelligence service spied on Greek politicians, journalists and businesspeople. The government has passed a law banning the use of spyware, but its own investigation of the scandal is moving very slowly. ■