MeRA25 leader Yanis Varoufakis said the "Erdoganization and Orbanization of Greece is now completed" and that there is an "unbelievable tsunami of conservatism" following a weak showing in Greek national elections on Sunday that prevented the leftist party from entering Parliament.
Referring to Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Varoufakis said he "served a crushing defeat" and that "this is mostly a result of SYRIZA's leadership" because it rejected a campaign collaboration proposed two years ago, now resulting "in this unbelievable tsunami of conservatism."
Varoufakis said that his party's loss would be examining critically and unsparingly because the party wanted to honour the voters who believed in MeRA25 and came to vote.
"Whether you agree or disagree, you must concede that the party's cohesive ruling program is a really interesting and useful program, a contribution to public dialogue," he noted, adding that the program will be reviewed and tabled again.
Asked whether he would collaborate with other parties in the runoff elections, Varoufakis said, "Under no circumstances. You know very well that during elections there are no options for a program agreement - we have rejected short-term agreements from the very start."
Meanwhile, Greek voters endorsed the revival of PASOK and the democratic movement, PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis said on Sunday, following the election results that showed his party gaining in seats.
The socialist party leader also criticized Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis for "an executive state that covered up a deep state of wiretapping and extensive corruption." Androulakis also blamed SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras for New Democracy's sweeping victory instead of "ND paying for all this at the ballot box."
Androulakis underlined that "the Greek people highlighted a huge need for a strong progressive power in Greece that will embrace the real concerns of citizens, that will proceed ahead with progress, responsibility and reliability."
The voters who cast their ballot for PASOK-KINAL must not be disappointed, he said, and termed Sunday's result as "the first great step to put an end to divisiveness and toxicity."
The opposition leader called on voters to strengthen PASOK-KINAL, "New Democracy's true and genuine opponent."
Sunday's national elections in Greece resulted in a sweeping victory for ruling New Democracy and unexpected low results for main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, which lost all but one of 59 electoral regions in Greece.
With 95/50% of the votes counted, the following percentages were recorded, according to the Interior Ministry's live update through its online site (https://ekloges.ypes.gr/current/v/home/en/), with party leaders in parentheses:
- New Democracy (Kyriakos Mitsotakis): 40.78% and 145 seats
- SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance (Alexis Tsipras): 20.07% and 72 seats
- PASOK-KINAL (Nikos Androulakis): 11.53% and 41 seats
- Communist Party of Greece (Dimitris Koutsoubas): 7.20% and 26 seats
- Greek Solution (Kyriakos Velopoulos): 4.46% and 16 seats
Yanis Varoufakis' party MeRA25 with 2.59% did not make the 3% threshold to enter Parliament, along with Niki (Dimitris Natsios, 2.92%) and Plefsi Eleftherias (Zoi Konstantopoulou, former Parliament speaker, 2.87%).
Voter turnout was 60.73%, parties that did not make it into Parliament account for 15.96% of votes, and invalid or blank votes totaled 2.61%.
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