The Greek parliament will be dissolved before Orthodox Easter on April 16 to allow the holding of a snap parliamentary election in May, Greek government spokesman Ioannis Oikonomou said on Tuesday
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) The Greek parliament will be dissolved before Orthodox Easter on April 16 to allow the holding of a snap parliamentary election in May, Greek government spokesman Ioannis Oikonomou said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced during a cabinet meeting that Greece's parliamentary elections will take place on May 21 before the end of the current government's four-year term.
"The legislative work in the parliament will continue until the first days of the Holy Week (starting April 10). Then the parliament will be dissolved within the time period stipulated by the constitution," Oikonomou said.
The spokesman expressed the hope that Greek voters would support the ruling New Democracy party and give it a mandate to form a new government.
"Citizens will have to decide at the upcoming election what Greece they want to see in future and what government is fit to fulfill their expectations. Our government has achieved many things over the past almost four years, and civil society is on its side," Oikonomou added.
Media reported that Mitsotakis had previously avoided giving an exact date in an attempt to delay the elections, in the hope of narrowing the popularity gap between his New Democracy party and the largest opposition party, Coalition of the Radical Left � Progressive Alliance (SYRIZA) led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
The upcoming elections will take place under the shadow of the deadly rail crash on March 1 near the city of Larissa, in which 57 people were killed.
Since 2004, no Greek government has served a full four-year term, with the country going through a number of snap parliamentary elections.
