Alexis Tsipras says he feels "vindicated" by the decisive victory, weeks after he resigned as Greece's leader to spark a new vote.
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| Tsipras' Second Election Victory |
Alexis Tsipras has vowed to serve a full four-year term as Greece's Prime Minister – after weary voters took part in the country's fifth general election since 2009.
The charismatic leader of the Syriza Party secured 35.5% of the vote, with New Democracy coming in second place with a 28.1% share.
It is a decisive victory, as opinion polls conducted on Friday had put Mr Tsipras and Vangelis Meimarakis, his conservative rival, just half a percentage point apart.
However, Syriza is still six seats short of an overall majority, meaning the left-wing party has to form a coalition with the Independent Greeks – a right-wing group with 10 seats.
After a controversial €86bn bailout deal was finalised with EU creditors three weeks ago, he resigned as Prime Minister – triggering a snap election.
As the package includes painful austerity measures, something Mr Tsipras had pledged to avoid back in January, he had faced criticism for breaking promises and making a significant U-turn by election campaign rivals.
Some Syriza ministers had also defected to form a new anti-bailout party – but their Popular Unity group fell short of the 3% threshold required to send MPs to parliament.
Mr Tsipras has publicly said he disagrees with the austerity measures to be implemented, but maintains that Greece would have faced bankruptcy and ejection from the Euro without it.
Once his re-election became assured, Mr Tsipras said: "I feel vindicated because the Greek people gave us a clear mandate to continue our struggle, inside and outside the country, to lift our pride."
Syriza will have its work cut out over the coming months – with a pension system to overhaul, tax hikes to implement, and a 2016 budget to draft.
The new government will also need to tackle the ongoing migration crisis, as hundreds of refugees continue to arrive on Greece's eastern islands after travelling on unsafe inflatable dinghies.
Meanwhile, the head of the Eurozone group of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, has congratulated Mr Tsipras – adding that he was "looking forward to continuing the reform process".
source : skynews