Greek prime minister-elect on CNBC: “It’s an important victory for Europe, not just for Greece”

Official results showed Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party leading with 39.6% over Alexis Tsipras’ Syriza party, with 69% of the vote counted. The early results also suggested that the far-right Golden Dawn party would be short of the 3% minimum needed to enter parliament, a fall from 7% of the vote at the last election.

“It’s an important victory for Europe, not just for Greece. It looks like Golden Dawn has not made it passed the 3% threshold which is a great victory for Greek democracy,” Mitsotakis told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro.

“And I’m very proud that I took over a party that was at 28% in the last election and taken it to almost 40%. I’ve received an outright majority which many people thought was inconceivable a few years ago, but that means there is a real strong mandate for change in Greece, and this what I have promised to deliver and this is what I will do,” he added.

International bailouts

The opposition conservatives were on track to return to power by a landslide, unseating incumbent leftists blamed for foisting a bailout on the country which critics say was unnecessary.

Back in 2015, Tsipras and his Syriza party won the election with a promise of confronting the EU and ending austerity in a country that, since 2010, had been at the mercy of international creditors.