Greece’s main center-right opposition party, “New Democracy”, scored a categorical victory over incumbent Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ leftist party SYRIZA in Sunday’s early elections.

Tsipras called the snap polls after New Democracy beat SYRIZA in the 2019 EU Elections in May 2019.

With 86.4% of votes counted late on Sunday night, ND had won 39.77%, while SYRIZA had received 31.55%, in itself a better result for Tsipras than many analysts had expected.

The results translate into 158 seats (out of a total of 300) in the Greek Parliament for ND and 86 for SYRIZA, Ekathimerini reports.

The absolute majority for New Democracy results from the Greek electoral law under which the winner of the election gets an additional 50 parliamentary seats.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is now set to become Greece’s new Prime Minister, while Tsipras conceded defeat.

The center-left Movement for Change (KINAL) came in third with 7.94% (22 seats) and the Greek Communist Party (KKE) with 5.35% (15 seats).

In one of the most significant developments of Sunday’s vote in Greece, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party was expected to be voted out of Greece’s Parliament after failing to reach the 3% threshold, with 2.96% of the votes, ending its seven-year presence in the legislature.

However, the nationalist, pro-Russian Greek Solution, which drew a significant proportion of Golden Dawn’s voters, made it to the Greek Parliament with 3.74% (10 seats) and MeRA25, the party of former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, secured 3.48% (9 seats).

“I stand with humility and respect before the popular mandate,” Mitsotakis said as he pledged not to let down his supporters.

“I asked for a strong mandate to change Greece. You gave it to me generously,” he stated, adding that it was his administration’s duty to “unite all Greeks.”

“Society delivered a clear message in favor of growth, job-creation and security,” Mitsotakis declared.

“I will work hard to represent all Greeks; we are too few to stay divided,” he said, adding that “transparency and meritocracy will return to Greece, and our country’s voice in Europe will be strengthened.”

He said that the Greek Parliament was going to work during the summer and that his party did not require a grace period.

Mitsotakis will be sworn in on Monday. The members of the cabinet will be sworn in on Tuesday while its first meeting will take place on Wednesday. It was also announced that the new Greek Parliament would convene on July 17.

Conceding defeat, outgoing prime minister Alexis Tsipras said that he “absolutely” accepted the verdict of the people.

“To bring Greece to where it is today we had to take difficult decisions with a heavy political cost,” he said.

However, Tsipras argued that the defeat was not a “strategic” one and defended his legacy.

“We hold our heads up high as the Greece we are handing over in no way resembles the Greece we took over four years ago,” Tsipras said.

(Banner image: Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Twitter)