Kyriakos Mitsotakis becomes Greece’s new PM on vow to end economic crisis

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a former McKinsey consultant, has pledged to create jobs and get rid of obstacles to business (Photo: AFP)


The Conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis sworn in as Greece’s new Prime Minister after a resounding win over left-wing Alexis Tsipras on Monday.

Mitsotakis, the son of former Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis said, “The result gave him a strong mandate for change”.

“I would be a Prime Minister for all because Greeks were “too few to stay divided”, he added.

The Prime Minister, who was sworn in at a ceremony has promised lower taxes, greater privatisation of public services and plans to renegotiate a deal with Greece’s creditors that would allow more money to be reinvested in the country, BBC News reported.

Mitsotakis further said, “I want to see these people prosper. I want to see the children who left to return” while thanking his supporters.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras acknowledged this Sunday his defeat and congratulated the winner, New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Efe news reported.

In a telephone conversation, both leaders have agreed that the transfer of power would take place immediately after which Mitsotakis was all set to be sworn in before the nation’s President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, at a ceremony which was scheduled for 1 pm.

Alexis Tsipras who led the country through the tumultuous final years of its international bailouts.

The win comes four years after Alexis Tsipras’s leftist Syriza party swept to power promising an end to austerity.

After Sunday’s polls, which were the first general elections in Greece since the nation’s economic bailout, Syriza will be left with 86 seats after garnering 31.6 per cent of ballots.