Kyriakos Mitsotakis returns to the Greek prime minister’s office

THE RIGHT-OF-CENTRENDND ND New Democracy () party raced to an expected victory in Greece’s general election held on June 25th. It took 40.6% of the vote to win a second four-year term, with the radical left-wing Syriza party trailing a distant second with 17.8%. The conservatives, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, were boosted by the 50 bonus seats they were awarded under a new version of the country’s proportional electoral system. That gave Mr Mitsotakis, who was prime minister until last month when he made way for an interim leader following an inconclusive election, an overall majority of eight seats in the 300-member parliament. Eight parties are set to enter the new house.The second general election in just over a month saw the gap between and Syriza widen marginally, a sign of optimism about the chances for a sustained economic recovery against a backdrop of political stability. At the previous poll, on May 21st, under a different system with no bonus seats, finished five seats short of an outright parliamentary majority. Mr Mitsotakis believes that his eight-seatmajority this time will be enough to push through further reforms.