Mitsotakis to return exploratory mandate to president
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to return a three-day mandate to form a coalition government just hours after receiving it from President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
In an audience with the president at the Presidential Mansion shortly after noon, the prime minister said that as the conditions did not exist for the formation of a coalition government, he would be returning the mandate Monday afternoon.
He added that under the system of enhanced proportionality that will apply in the next election, New Democracy will receive a “strong majority.”
By returning the mandate, he wanted to speed up the procedures to call a new elections, possibly on June 25.
Mitsotakis described Sunday’s elections “as a mature step,” noting the increase in the turnout since 2019, the fact that Greeks abroad voted for the first time and also that the “results were issued in record time.”
Upon return of the exploratory mandate, it will be passed on to the second-place party, SYRIZA, and, should Alexis Tsipras fail to form a government, as is likely, subsequently to the third-place party, PASOK.
Should no party succeed in forming a coalition, Sakellaropoulou will appoint a caretaker government to take the country to a new vote about a month later.
