Who will Greeks vote for? 🗳️

Dear reader,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

Election Sunday has arrived. The latest opinion polls favored ruling ND. Yet, there have been quite a few times during the crisis years that polls have not proven accurate. This year, less than half a million young people will vote for the first time—those raised during the financial crisis and experienced a pandemic. Let’s see what happens.

Tempi victims’ relatives have filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the deadly accident. Among others, they sued the PM. Mitsotakis later said that “the justified anger of the victims’ relatives does not justify such kind of behavior,” with ND's communication mechanism trying later to persuade he did not say what we understood he said. Also, a demonstration of the dead people’s relatives never happened for the mainstream media. 

Two out of three Greek citizens do not visit a doctor when they need it due to financial difficulties, the National Statistics Authority ELSTAT reported. This can explain Greece’s excess mortality, as reported by Eurostat, and why only 45% of Greeks are satisfied with the healthcare system, as stated in another survey. Healthcare will be a factor shaping election preferences. 

Here comes the youth

A day before elections Sunday, the political landscape has presented no surprises. 

The opinion polls favored ruling ND, with SYRIZA following with a smaller or larger margin. Six parties are expected to enter the Parliament - PASOK/KINAL, Communist Party KKE, Elliniki Lysi, and DiEM25. 

The most likely outcome would be that Greece won’t have a government on Sunday, as it is highly unlikely that any party will take the necessary share of votes.