Greece's Mitsotakis eyes new term in uncertain ballot

(ANSA-AFP) - ATHENS, MAY 17 - Greeks will vote on Sunday in the most unpredictable national polls in a decade with an inconclusive result likely to lead to the election needing to be re-run. Outgoing conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis holds a clear lead of around 6 percent over his nearest rival, leftist former premier Alexis Tsipras. But under the election's proportional representation rules, no party is expected to win by a margin large enough to secure an outright majority in the 300-seat parliament. A follow-up election by early July will likely be necessary, and will use a new system that would grant the winner bonus seats in parliament. Mitsotakis, campaigning on four years of tax cuts, tourism revival and steady growth, has warned denying his New Democracy party a strong mandate would lead to "paralysis" at a time of international uncertainty.

"Currently there is no other credible proposal except a self-reliant New Democracy (government)," the 55-year-old told the Kathimerini daily last week. Tsipras and his Syriza party promise to restore faith in a country shaken by a scandal over wiretapping by the security services and Greece's worst-ever rail disaster that claimed 57 lives in February. In 2015 he led a high-stakes negotiation with the European Union that nearly crashed Greece out of the euro. (ANSA-AFP).

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