Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in on the campaign trail writes Stavros Papantoniou for Katherimerini, noting that his resumption of travelling to Greece's regional areas is 'essentially, but not yet officially, pre-election barnstorming.'
'Even though the present conservative government’s term expires in July next year, it is widely assumed that the first of what are expected to be two polls will take place somewhere between April and late May.
'The electoral law voted by the previous government precludes any party gaining a majority and, as a governing coalition is seen as extremely unlikely, the new Parliament will be dissolved shortly after convening and a new election called, this time under an electoral law voted by the present government, which provides for a 30-seat bonus to the winner, making an overall single-party majority possible, but not assured.
'An interim government will be in place for the roughly 30-day period between dissolution and a new election.
“The most important dilemma” of next year’s polls “is whether we will move forward or backward and who the Greeks want to govern,” the prime minister said. “I’m certain they will support us again and will trust us… to continue on the path to a strong and thriving Greece or… go back to a not-so-distant past,” Mitsotakis added, alluding to the period of the leftist-led SYRIZA government, from January 2015 to July 2019.