ND targeting key 40% threshold
Conservatives seeking undecideds and people voting away from their place of residence
With the election just days away, New Democracy is seeking the crucial 40% threshold that would secure a safe outright majority to form a single-party government.
Anything below 40%, combined with other results, such as an eight-party Parliament, could create a problem for New Democracy and even endanger its goal of forming a one-party government or make it very marginal, in the order of 151 or 152 MPs.
The second objective, which is directly related to the first, is to regroup the 2.4 million people who voted for ND on May 21. The party believes that getting these voters back to the polls is the most crucial part of reaching the 40% or more target, as it is speculated that abstention will increase, especially among small parties that are definitely out of Parliament and do not have the ability to regroup their voters.
In order to ensure that these 2.4 million will indeed go to the ballot box, New Democracy will also target the some 200,000 citizens voting in constituencies other than their place of residence. These people, which could amount to as high as 1.5%, will have to travel to vote.
Because of the distance and the expenses they have to incur, they are considered a critical “factor” in the election, which must be persuaded to go to the polls again. It is hoped that the good weather and the incentive of a summer weekend in their home town could work in their favor.
Another huge target is the undecideds, which polls suggest amount to 7%. The figure is lower than before May 21, which was between 10% and 13%. However, given that, as mentioned above, New Democracy definitely wants a 40%-plus share, the undecideds are a very crucial percentage, especially if the party has some losses in the sense that it has now secured victory.
Another objective is the number of parties that will enter Parliament. The fewer their number, the greater the chance of a safe outright majority. Therefore, ND would ideally want to see six parties finally enter the next Parliament, not seven or eight as is being discussed.
To this end, ND leader Kyriakos Mitstotakis recently sought to dissuade voters in Halkidiki from backing the religious Niki party, which received 5.39% in this particular prefecture. He insisted that citizens should not vote for parties that exploit the Orthodox faith, which “is not closed within the confines of a party.”
