Ruling party searching for parliamentary candidates

The ruling conservatives are searching for candidates for this year’s parliamentary elections that will help maximize votes, aware that there will be fewer choices this time.

Before the last election, in July 2019, New Democracy, then the main opposition party, held 75 seats in the 300-member Parliament, increasing them to 158 following its victory. This meant it needed 344 people to fill all 419 candidate slots and could field quite a large share (58%) of people who had never run for Parliament before.

This time, it is unlikely that any of its 156 current MPs will stand down, understandably, since polls point to a continuing governance, without guaranteeing an overall majority even after a widely anticipated second election.

Turnover this time is expected to be less than 25% and it will also be important to stem the bleeding of votes to hard-right parties while not alienating centrist voters.