site.btaLow Turnout in Greek Elections for EP Is Cause of Big Concern, Kathimerini Journalist Says

The high rate of non-participation in the European elections in Greece is a cause of big concern,  Dora Andoniu, a journalist with the leading Greek daily Kathimerini told BTA in an interview focused on the results from the Sunday vote.

The share of voters who did not go to the polls on Sunday was nearly 60%. Andoniu noted that this is not only the case in Greece: it is a general trend but in Greece it has a myriad of side effects and influences the electoral outcome and the political picture in general. 

Along with the low turnout, an important conclusion from the election results is the increase in the percentages of parties to the right of New Democracy, which is the ruling centre-right party. "The parties of the populist and the far right  part of the spectrum have grown enormously. At the same time, we are seeing an inability of the centre-left parties to gain support among those lost by the ruling party, and at the same time an inability to form a recognizable pole that could potentially represent a possible option for government in the future," said Dora Andoniu.

She believes that all political parties came out losers of the elections - except for the populist and far-right parties, which took a share of nearly 20% from the right-wing New Democracy.