Greece's conservatives win election, pledge more reforms

ATHENS - Greek Former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised more reforms at a faster pace after his conservative party won the second general election in five weeks on Sunday and an outright majority in parliament.

With 95 percent of votes counted, New Democracy (ND) garnered 40.55 percent of the votes, securing 158 seats in the next 300-member parliament to form a single-party government, according to official results released by the Interior Ministry.

"We received a strong mandate to proceed faster on the path of reforms our country needs," Mitsotakis told media at the party's headquarters.

During his second term in office, Greece will change further, he said, pledging more prosperity for all.

The Leftists of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance garnered 17.84 percent of the votes and the socialists of PASOK- KINAL (Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Movement for Change) gained 11.88 percent.

A total of eight parties are expected to enter the next parliament, after passing the three-percentage threshold of the votes needed under the electoral law.

On Monday Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give a mandate to Mitsotakis to form a new government.

The first election on May 21 ended inconclusive. Frontrunner ND failed to secure an outright parliamentary majority due to how the electoral system was used.

Since there was no agreement to form a coalition government in May, a caretaker government was appointed to lead the country to the second ballot.

In the second ballot on Sunday, a revised electoral system was used which provided a bonus of up to 50 extra seats for the winning party.

In the 2019 general elections, ND won 39.8 percent of the votes with 158 seats in parliament.