Greeks are eager for political stability. After years of economic turmoil, the country is within reach of winning back its investment-grade rating in international markets and rehabilitating its place in the eurozone. Geopolitically, tensions with Turkey in the Aegean Sea and new challenges for NATO demand clear-eyed political leadership in Athens. Yet Greece’s May 21 election is unlikely to deliver.
Greeks are eager for political stability. After years of economic turmoil, the country is within reach of winning back its investment-grade rating in international markets and rehabilitating its place in the eurozone. Geopolitically, tensions with Turkey in the Aegean Sea and new challenges for NATO demand clear-eyed political leadership in Athens. Yet Greece’s May 21 election is unlikely to deliver.
Four years ago, when Kyriakos Mitsotakis became Greece’s prime minister, many pundits and analysts expected that Greek politics would become less turbulent and more technocratic. Mitsotakis, who heads the center-right New Democracy party, ousted leftist Alexis Tsipras, who took office during one of the most politically volatile and economically challenging periods in Greece since its 1974 transition to democracy. However, hopes for calm under Mitsotakis were short-lived: The country soon faced the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic repercussions of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
New Democracy sought to counter economic hardship with generous energy and business subsidies, decreased taxes, and increased pensions. Mitsotakis also raised the minimum wage. And, throughout his tenure, he has made important investments in infrastructure and digitized much of Greece’s bureaucracy. But alleged scandals in Mitsotakis’s government, including the wiretapping and hacking of journalists’ and rival politicians’ phones, as well as a tragic railway accident in February have compounded the public’s suspicion of politics and politicians. Rampant inflation hasn’t helped.
It is in this context that Mits ..
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 and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attend a televised debate between Greek parliamentary party leaders in Athens on May 10, ahead of May 21 general elections.){kind=link}