Although the conservative New Democracy party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis won over 40 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election in Greece, the party failed to win an outright majority in the National Assembly.

Mitsotakis’s New Democracy Party was a full 20 percentage points ahead of its main rival, the leftist Syriza party, with over 90% of the vote counted this is a margin of victory not seen since 1974.

But due to the current proportional representation electoral system, the vote share of just over 40% is not enough to secure a majority of the 300 seats in parliament, meaning he will either have to seek a coalition partner from a smaller party or go the route of a new election round.

A new round of elections, likely in late June or early July, would be held with a new electoral law that gives bonus seats to the winning party, making it easier for it to form a government on its own. (Ekathimerini)

Greece’s President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will on Monday follow established procedures and give the leaders of the three largest parties an opportunity to try to achieve a governing majority. PASOK, the old socialist party, also advanced strongly in this election, from 8 to 11.5 percent of the vote.

It is expected that each of the three parties will have three days to form a coalition. If they fail in this, a new round of elections will be announced in June or July.

Mitsotakis wins big, will seek outright majority in second election

Exploratory mandates to go to top three parties

Greece general election: Five things we learned from Sunday’s vote (Euronews)