Election results show government and opposition weakened, far-right parties surge

Results from Sunday's ballots show that none of the big three parties have reached their stated goals, although all may try to spin a positive narrative from them.

What is beyond dispute is the very low turnout: at nearly 93% of precincts reporting, it is currently 40.6%, some 18 percentage points below that of the last European election, in May 2019 (58.69%).

The ruling center-right New Democracy had hoped to match its 2019 result (33.12%). According to the official results from the Interior Ministry it is seen getting 27.9% support, significantly lower than last June's national election results, but still far ahead of main opposition SYRIZA (14.9%) and the socialist PASOK (12.9%).

The spinning has already begun: New Democracy officials were saying there was less polarization this time than in 2019, SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis said the results were a...