Greek president approves PM request for May 21 election

Greece’s president approved a request by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday to dissolve parliament and hold elections on May 21, as the country gears for a vote that is unlikely to produce an outright winner.

Mitsotakis announced the election date during a cabinet meeting in late March, a few months before his term officially ends in July. On Saturday, he told President Katerina Sakellaropoulou that parliament will be dissolved on April 23.

“I hope we have a calm and fruitful pre-election period, for the good of the country,” Sakellaropoulou told the conservative premier, kicking off a four-week political campaigning period.

The election will be held under a proportional voting system and opinion polls show neither Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party nor the main opposition, the leftist SYRIZA party, are likely to secure the votes needed for an absolute parliamentary majority.

Mitsotakis said that he hoped for full participation in the election.

If the parties elected cannot form a coalition government, a second vote will be held in early July. [Reuters]