Greece’s conservative prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has won national elections, hailing his party’s big victory as a “political earthquake”.
Centre-right New Democracy were heading for almost 41% of the vote, five seats short of a majority.
Centre-left rival Alexis Tsipras congratulated him, as his party was set for a poor result with just 20%.
Mr Mitsotakis said the result showed that Greeks had given his party a mandate for a four-year government.
“The people wanted the choice of a Greece run by a majority government and by New Democracy without the help of others,” he said in a victory speech.
Hours earlier party supporters in Athens cheered as an exit poll indicated the unexpected scale of New Democracy’s victory. As results emerged, it was clear that pre-election polls had underestimated the 20-point margin between the two main parties.
With 88% of results counted, Mr Mitsotakis’s party is set to win 145 seats, five seats short of the 150 required for a majority.
His…
This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk