Greek Prime Minister Ousted As Conservatives Win General Election

Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras has conceded defeat in the country’s general election as conservative opposition leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis secured a comfortable parliamentary majority.

With more than 90% of votes counted, Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party had secured 39.8% of the votes compared to 31.5% by Mr. Tsipras’s Syriza party.

In a speech he delivered from central Athens on Sunday night,  Tsipras said Greek citizens had made their choice and that he and his party fully respected the popular vote.

This is Greece’s first parliamentary election since emerging from three successive international bailouts as it continues to struggle with a crippling decade-long financial crisis.

In his victory speech,  Mitsotakis who had severally clashed with the country’s official lenders and brought Greece to the brink of a euro exit said: “From today, a difficult but beautiful fight begins.”

 Tsipras led his Syriza party to power in 2015 on promises that he would repeal the austerity measures of Greece’s first two bailouts.

However, after months of negotiations with international creditors which saw Greece nearly crashing out of the European Union’s joint currency, he was forced to sign up to a third bailout with the accompanying spending cuts and tax hikes.