Greece’s elections were held on Sunday but the main parties failed to agree a coalition so there will be a caretaker government until the date of new elections.
Greece concluded the provisional political transition this Friday with the swearing in of the ministers of the new interim government, whose objective will be to ensure the management of the country for a month until new parliamentary elections are held.
the main parties couldn’t come to an agreement after the elections last Sunday, in which New Democracy (ND), the political force of the outgoing conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, obtained more than 40% of the votes, giving rise to an interim government headed by Judge Ioannis Sarmas , until now president of the Court of Accounts.
Elections in Greece. New Democracy Party wins by wide margin, but needs runoff to secure majority
Sarmas is accompanied in the management of the government by another 15 people, who were sworn in at the presidential palace.
According to the edition online According to the Greek daily Kathimerini, the spokesman for the new interim executive, Ilias Siakantaris, told reporters that the sworn ministers will work “without any political affiliation”stressing that they will be “fully functional”.
The interim executive has a strong technocratic profile, with Theodore Pelagidis, a former deputy governor of the central bank, taking over the finance ministry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be occupied by the diplomat Vassilis Kaskarelis, while the Defense portfolio has been assigned to Alkiviadis Stefanis, a former officer of the Armed Forces who was a deputy minister.
Until the date of the new vote, which, in principle, should produce a clear political majority in the Greek parliament, political parties return to the electoral campaign.
Ioannis Sarmas, 66, president of the Court of Auditors, was appointed by the President of the Greek Republic, Katerina Sakellaropulu, after the failure —intentionally by the main parties— of the attempts to form a coalition government.
The superior magistrate, who in particular has a doctorate in human rights from Paris, complied with the obligation to form a provisional executive, which will have the exclusive power to apply the law and “organize elections.”
The 300 elected deputies will meet for the first time next Sunday in parliament, which will be dissolved the following day when the date of the elections is officially announced.
Greek president will ask for the formation of an interim government until new elections
The vote is likely to take place June 25thas the now ex-prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants.
Ioannis Sarmas, whose term will end after the next vote, succeeds Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the winner of the May 21 elections.
Despite the victory, Mitsotakis failed to reach an absolute majority as was his goal and, therefore, immediately called for new legislation.
Mitsotakis is counting on granting a bonus of up to 50 parliamentary seats to the party with the best result in that second round, which will have a different vote counting system, an advantage that could allow it to obtain an absolute majority, according to its calculations.
Former leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose party Syriza won only 71 parliamentary mandatesHe acknowledged having suffered “a painful scare” and “unexpected” on Sunday, with only about 20% of the vote, less than half that of his main opponent.
However, he vowed to “fight a new battle” against an “all-powerful” right-wing government, “which would be bad for democracy.”
Source: Observadora
