Incumbent right-wing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the favorite in Sunday’s parliamentary election in Greece, the result of which could force him to call for new elections in the absence of a stable majority, AFP reported.

Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos MitsotakisPhoto: DIMITRIS PAPAMITSOS / AFP / Profimedia

His main opponent, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, wants to return to the country’s leadership after a first term from 2015 to 2019 that was marked by a clash with the European Union and then a capitulation during negotiations to rescue Greece from the financial crisis.

Polling stations opened at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT). The results of the exit polls will be published after the polls close at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

The election campaign, which was considered monotonous, ended on Friday evening at the foot of the Acropolis, where 55-year-old Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked voters for a new four-year mandate to continue building a “new Greece”.

Meanwhile, his rival Alexis Tsipras predicted an end to the “nightmare” on Sunday and accused the government of pursuing economic policies that “have the middle class living on food stamps.”

For months, polls have given the conservative New Democracy (ND) leader a comfortable lead of between 5 and 7 percentage points.

According to a poll conducted by Arco on Thursday, the ND is credited with 32.7% of voting intentions and Syriza with 26%. The socialist party “Pasok-Kinal” is in third place, gaining 8.3% of the vote.

However, such a result will not allow the right to rule alone, and Kyriakos Mitsotakis ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition in a country where the political culture is not based on compromises.

In the event of the impossibility of forming a government majority, which is predicted by many analysts, a new vote will be scheduled at the end of June or the beginning of July, AFP also notes, reports Agerpres.

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