Political parties

New Democracy, SYRIZA and PASOK closed the election race on Friday with different goals in view of Sunday's ballot.

For conservative ND, the main goal is to secure a comfortable outright majority in the region of 158 seats. It believes that the votes of young people and voters who live in areas other than their constituencies are key to achieving this.

Party leaders have been hosting their traditional gatherings with political reporters ahead of Sunday's election.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis gathered with journalists at a cafe on Ermou Street, in central Athens, where much of the conversation was said to have focused on the upcoming election results and developments in Russia.

The game should have been over on May 21, with New Democracy's resounding victory, but our political peculiarities led to something like the penalty kicks at the end of a tied soccer match.

The Council of Ministers today discusses the proposal of candidates for European Commissioner. Two candidacies were presented, an opportunity provided in Ursula von der Leyen's letter. The two candidates are Daniel Laurer and Iliana Ivanova. Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told the media after the extraordinary meeting of the government.

Voters return to the polls Sunday for a second general election in five weeks, with the conservative New Democracy front-runners eyeing a landslide win after toppling strongholds dominated by their opponents for decades.

"Nobody doubts that there will be no rotation, right?" This was stated by GERB leader Boyko Borissov on the sidelines of parliament regarding the disagreements with the WCC-DB. According to him, they are doing everything "which is on the record" - changing personnel in ministries, agencies, regulators and "appointing their own people everywhere".

Leader of New Democracy party Kyriakos Mitsotakis greets people at a rally in Thessaloniki, Greece, 21 June 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/ACHILLEAS CHIRAS

Almost a month ago, Mitsotakis emerged as the big winner of May 21 elections, taking 40.83 per cent of the vote and leaving his main rival, Alexis Tsipras, and the left-wing party SYRIZA far behind on 20.07 per cent.

Istanbul's popular mayor is leading demands for a major change in the main opposition Republican People's Party - as another test in the form of local elections fast approaches.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Thursday with former US president Barack Obama, who is visiting Greece and will be speaking at an event at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Amid an internal debate over how the party should restructure itself following the election defeat, the provincial leaders of the Republican People's Party (CHP) have underlined that change should come through new opinions and principles and not through persons.