Gov't Set To Survive Confidence Vote But Faces Pressure Pre-Election

The Greek Parliament will hold a confidence vote in the gov't of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis following a motion put forward by main opposition left-wing SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras. Efforts to oust the PM come in the wake of a wiretapping scandal that has dominated the Greek political landscape over the past year. While the confidence vote is unlikely to pass given the gov't majority it will keep the scandal at the top of the news cycle as legislative elections loom in the summer.

• The wiretapping scandal saw the phones of head of the centre-left PASOK party, the then-energy minister, the chief of the armed forces, and the former head of the army infiltrated by Predator software. The national intelligence service (EYP), which undertook the wiretapping operation, was put under the purview of the PM following Mitsotakis' election in 2019.
• Mitsotakis' centre-right New Democracy holds 156 of the 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament, essentially ensuring the gov'ts success in the confidence vote. However, the next general election is due between April and July.
• While ND leads in polls, the electoral system has changed since the 2019 vote to a party list proportional representation system. This will require parties to form coalition gov'ts. With PASOK likely to emerge as kingmakers, an administration led by SYRIZA is looking more probable than one under ND following the election.