ATHENS — Greek voters turned out their leftist prime minister in elections that came after a decade of grueling economic austerity, casting their lot with a resurgent center-right New Democracy party.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called his opponent, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a Harvard-educated former banker and son of a former prime minister, to concede defeat.
Initial results showed that Mr. Tsipras’s Syriza party, which has ruled Greece for the past four years, had suffered a major defeat at the hands of New Democracy.
“Citizens made their choice,” Mr. Tsipras said. “The popular verdict will be perfectly respected. I just spoke with Kyriakos Mitsotakis to congratulate him on his democratic victory.”
The prime minister declared that “in a democracy, a change in government isn’t strange and said, “I will receive him tomorrow to hand over the prime ministerial office.
Source : Nytimes
