“An electoral battle has been concluded, one given with seriousness, dignity, in a civilized manner”, New Democracy leader Meimarakis said in a statement as he congratulated Tsipras.
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“Syriza proved it’s too strong to die even when everyone turned against it”, he told flag-waving supporters gathered for a rally in central Athens, saying he would forge a new coalition on Monday with former partners, the right-wing Independent Greeks.
This is the fifth general election in the country in six years and was triggered by Mr Tsipras’s resignation as prime minister last month.
The snap election was called after a number of hard-left Syriza MPs defected in August when Mr Tsipras agreed to a new €90 billion financial rescue package that included a series of tough economic reforms known as austerity measures.
In another alarming sign the ultra- Right Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) party again held its ground and retained the third place by winning 7 percent of the votes, despite the judicial crackdown which started in 2013 over the murder of an anti-fascist activist.
However, voter turnout fell to 55 per cent – the lowest since modern records began.
Some voters, who had hoped that Tsipras would make good on his promises to end austerity and get a better deal out of Greece’s creditors have been so disappointed that they chose to abstain this time and, perhaps, in the future.
The dissident left wing of his party, which split off over opposition to the bailout terms and formed the new Popular Unity, managed only 2.9%, thus failing to clear the 3% threshold for parliamentary representation. It also faces further harsh austerity reforms as part of a massive, third worldwide bailout that Tsipras was forced to adopt to keep the country in Europe’s joint currency.
“I may give Tsipras another go of it or maybe I’ll give my vote to the Union of Centrists”, he added, the latter a reference to an idiosyncratic party whose fortunes have risen in line with the increasing disillusionment with politics.
“The bigger question is whether the incoming government will be able to successfully conclude the bailout’s first review”, Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said by e- mail.
Speaking to a crowd of cheering supporters in Athens, Tsipras said his Syriza party had been given a “clear mandate” at the polls.
“We now have to do our homework so that Greece becomes a well ordered state, to fight corruption and vested interests”, Kretsos, who is also the Greek government’s general secretary of communications, said in a telephone interview.
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The new government will have a small majority of just five seats – and little time to waste. But he was expected to form a coalition government easily . To the disappointment of Greece’s creditors, that broader coalition is not now likely to happen: neither party is keen to serve alongside ANEL.
