Greece Could Have 3rd Elections if There is No Majority

On Wednesday, former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that Greece will have to hold a third round of general elections in August if an absolute majority is not reached in Parliament to form a single-party government in the second election round on June 25.

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Mitsotakis' New Democracy (ND) party won the May 21 elections with 40.79 percent of the vote (146 seats), failing to obtain absolute majority in the 300-member Parliament.

The main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance finished second with 20.07 percent and the Socialists (PASOK-KINAL) came third with 11.46 percent (41 seats).

Since Parliament has failed to form a coalition government, a caretaker cabinet was appointed to lead the country to the repeat election.

The runoff will be held under an electoral system that provides a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party, facilitating the formation of a single-party government.

Under this system, the frontrunner could gain absolute majority in Parliament with a minimum of 38 percent of the vote, political analysts say.

ND leads in all the latest opinion polls, but a number of smaller parties are also close to the 3 percent threshold for parliamentary representation.

Under the electoral system, the more parties enter Parliament, the more difficult it will be for the absolute winner to reach majority as the required threshold increases to 41 percent.

On Tuesday, Mitsotakis said that he had ruled out cooperation with the right-wing parties, and for him the Socialists remained the only viable option for coalition partner. For now, however, the Socialists remain non-committal.