Athens, 22 May 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Fresh elections are likely to be held in Greece at the end of June after the ruling party narrowly missed an absolute majority in the general election a day earlier.

The conservative New Democracy party (ND) of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis clearly won the election on Sunday, with 40.8% of the vote, but missed an absolute majority in the 300-member parliament by 5 seats.

However, Mitsotakis does not want to form a coalition, but is looking to govern alone for another four years. The prime minister was formally given a three-day exploratory mandate to form a government by President Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou on Monday afternoon, state television reported.

"There is no possibility for a coalition. I will return the mandate today," Mitsotakis said at the meeting.

He said he would now contact the leaders of the second and third strongest parties and suggest that they also return their exploratory mandates so that new elections can be held as soon as possible.

According to information obtained by dpa, both Alexis Tsipras of the left-wing Syriza party (20%) and Nikos Androulakis of the social democratic Pasok party (11.5%) are willing to do so. New elections could then take place on June 25, experts estimated on state television.

A coalition between New Democracy and Syriza is out of the question for ideological reasons, with analysts describing any deal between them as an "unthinkable and unholy alliance."

Pasok, on the other hand, is on the upswing after more than a decade in the doldrums. In 2019 they achieved a vote of only 8.1%, compared with 11.5% in Sunday's election. However, the party does not want to be seen as a prop-up to the conservatives in a coalition.

But even if another party was prepared to enter a coalition with New Democracy, Mitsotakis would not be interested. If he were to win the new elections - which all the polls predict - the premier would be able to govern for a second four-year term on his own. The electoral law for the new elections provides that the party in first place gets a bonus of at least 20 seats.

Photo: Greek PM's Office