Athens: The conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the front-runner in Greece's general election, which is set to take place on Sunday and could result in a chaotic result.

With unemployment and inflation on the decline and growth this year anticipated to be twice as high as the bloc, the EU nation enters the polls in reasonably strong economic health—a far cry from the depths of a crippling debt crisis a decade ago.

Even though a post-Covid tourism revival helped Greece record growth of 5.9 percent in 2022, economic issues are still very much in the foreground.
Voters have been urged not to throw away the nation's hard-won economic stability by the departing prime minister.

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Alexis Tsipras, a former left-leaning premier and his chief rival, has cautioned that the rosy hard-line figures mask growing poverty as wages lag behind rising prices.

After serving a first term from 2015 to 2019, Tsipras is looking to make a comeback. During that time, he oversaw contentious negotiations with creditors that almost caused Greece to leave the euro. Nearly 10 million Greeks, including 440,000 first-time voters, are eligible to vote.

According to opinion surveys, Mitsotakis has a five to seven percentage point advantage over the competition.

However, the likely result of the vote is unpredictable because no party is anticipated to win an outright majority as a result of changes to the electoral rules.
Depending on how much of a lead a party gains, it may decide to form a coalition or hold a second round of voting to elect the government of Greece by early July.

With the socialist Pasok-Kinal party, led by 44-year-old Nikos Androulakis, a potential kingmaker, that could lead to weeks of horsetrading.

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In the upcoming election on Sunday, Mitsotakis, a Harvard alum and former McKinsey consultant, will face off against Tsipras, a former communist and trained engineer who is 48.

The outgoing premier claims he has kept his promises to voters to cut taxes, make immigration more restrictive, and maintain steady economic growth.
At his final rally on Friday, Mitsotakis promised to continue creating a new Greece despite a campaigning ban until the polls opened at 7:00 am on Sunday.

Tsipras, however, has charged that Mitsotakis promised "better jobs and wages, only to have the middle class live on coupons."

A lot of voters are concerned about the cost of living and employment issues.
"Life is very challenging, especially for young people. According to 41-year-old Athens resident Dora Vasilopoulo, the unemployment rate is high, there are no job prospects, and salaries disappear at the end of the month.

Giorgos Antonopoulos, 39, a worker at a commercial store in Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, complained that "salaries are used up halfway through the month and nothing is done to address this issue. "We work just to survive."

But civil servant Nadia Aggelopoulou, 47, said she thought Mitsotakis was "doing what he can" to combat inflation. She remarked that his administration "has been excellent on all levels," adding, "We don't hear lies. We anticipate salary increases.

Prior to the vote, however, Mitsotakis' administration has come under fire for the terrible head-on train collision that occurred in February and claimed 57 lives.

Even though Greece's notoriously subpar rail network had been suffering for years from underinvestment, the government initially placed the blame for the accident on human error.

The New York Times this week published footage purportedly showing Greek coast guards expelling migrants by setting them adrift in the Aegean Sea, drawing attention to the prime minister's tough stance against immigration.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights referred to the pictures as "disturbing" and urged a separate investigation. The results of the election may also be influenced by a wiretap scandal that led to the resignations of the head of the intelligence service and a nephew of Mitsotakis who was a key member of his staff.

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The leader of Pasol-Kinal, Androulakis, had been considered a potential coalition partner for Mitsotakis, but his chances of working with him decreased when he learned he had been subject to state surveillance.

During a trip to Greece in March, a group from the civil liberties committee of the European Parliament was informed by MEP Sophie in 't Veld that "very serious threats to the rule of law and fundamental rights" existed there.