New Greek government led by Mitsotakis sworn in

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Greece's new government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in on Tuesday.

The oath-taking ceremony was inaugurated by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the presidential palace.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the ceremony, Kostas Fragogiannis, who was re-appointed as deputy foreign minister for external economic relations, said that he will continue to work on the positive agenda with Türkiye.

Along with the prime minister and foreign minister, we are handling the most sensitive issues in our relationship with Türkiye, he added.

- New Greek government

On Monday, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis announced the new Cabinet.

Former Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was appointed the defense minister, while Nikos Hardalias was re-appointed the deputy defense minister.

Meanwhile, George Gerapetridis, the former transportation minister, was appointed the foreign minister and Fragogiannis retained his position as the deputy foreign minister.

Niki Kerameus​​​​​​​, the education minister of the previous Mitsotakis government, was appointed the interior minister.

- June 25 Greek elections

In the elections held on Sunday that created the most right-wing parliament in the country since 1974, conservative New Democracy gained 40.55% of the votes and consequently secured 158 of the 300 seats in parliament.

Though leftist SYRIZA led by Alexis Tsipras preserved its position as the main opposition party by becoming second with 17.84% of the votes and 48 parliamentary seats, the results indicate a major defeat for the party, as confirmed by its leaders as well.

Social democratic PASOK party came third with 11.85% which enabled it to secure 32 seats in the parliament.

Greek Communist Party (KKE), which has a strong presence in some major trade unions and working-class districts in Athens and the port city of Piraeus as well as some Aegean islands such as Ikaria, got 7.69% and 20 seats.

The Spartans party, which was openly backed by imprisoned lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris of the banned neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, won over 4.68% of the votes and entered the parliament for the first time with 12 seats.

Also, the far-right, populist Greek Solution party and the far-right, religious Niki (Victory) party were others that passed the 3% electoral threshold and entered the parliament, with 4.45% and 3.70%, respectively. They secured 12 and 10 parliamentary seats, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Sailing for Freedom party founded by former Parliament Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou secured eight seats in the parliament with 3.17%, while the MeRA25 led by Tsipras’ former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was unable to get into parliament with 2.46%.

The country’s 150,000-strong Turkish minority will be represented by four lawmakers, with two of them elected from SYRIZA, while two others from the PASOK lists.

The turnout rate in Sunday's run-off elections was only 52.82%, down from 61.1% in the May 21 elections.