Greece election results: Landslide for centre-right New Democracy after Syriza concedes defeat

Greece’s centre-right opposition party has won the country’s parliamentary elections, as Golden Dawn, the far-right anti-immigrant party who were previously Greece’s third-largest, lost each of its 18 seats.

With more than 99 per cent of votes counted, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party had 39.85 per cent of votes, compared to 31.5 per cent for Syriza, the leftist party led by prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

Mr Mitsotakis’ victory has brought an end to Mr Tsipras’ tumultuous four years in office, in which the left-wing leader battled against the EU and austerity.

The New Democracy leader said Greek voters had given his party a “strong mandate” for change, bucking a recent trend in European elections towards populism and Eurosceptic parties.

Meanwhile, Golden Dawn, who evolved from a violent ultranationalist group into a significant force in Greek politics, narrowly failed to reach the 3 per cent threshold for representation in parliament after winning 2.93 per cent of the vote.

Mr Mitsotakis has vowed to cut taxes, attract investment and improve the job market in a country that has struggled with unemployment in recent years.

“Greeks deserve better and the time has come for us to prove it,” he said on Sunday night.

Mr Tsipras has said he has conceded defeat and phoned his opponent to congratulate him.

“The citizens have made their choice. We fully respect the popular vote,” Mr Tsipras said in a speech from central Athens.

The election was the first since a financial crisis which has seen unemployment and poverty levels skyrocket and Greece’s economy shrink by a quarter.

The country has been forced to adopt strict austerity measures, including major tax rises and spending cuts, in return for three international bailouts.

Mr Tsipras called the election three months ahead of schedule after his party suffered a severe defeat in the EU and local elections in May and early June.

Despite coming to power with promises to repeal the austerity of the country’s first two bailouts, he was forced to impose spending cuts after months of tough negotiations with international creditors which threatened Greece’s exit from the euro.

He also negotiated a controversial deal with neighbouring North Macedonia to rename the country from its contentious name of Macedonia.

Although the deal was praised by Western allies, it angered many Greeks, who considered use of the term “Macedonia” as a sign of expansionist aims by North Macedonia on the Greek province of the same name.

Golden Dawn’s failure in the election on Sunday is thought to have been partly caused by the success of another party, Greek Solution, who offered a less extreme version of right-wing populism and are set to win 10 seats.

Despite the defeat, Nikos Mihaloliakos, Golden Dawn’s leader, was defiant that the party would not return to the margins of Greek politics.

“Golden Dawn is not finished; get over it. The fight for nationalism continues,” he said on Sunday.

The far-right leader ended his concession speech with his customary “Hail victory!” – a direct reference to the Nazis’ “Sieg heil” salutation.

Agencies contributed to this report