Greek rivals in final push before Sunday's vote

ATHENS — Greece's outgoing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and challenger Alexis Tsipras were expected to make a final push for votes at closing rallies on Friday, ahead of the most uncertain general election in a decade.

Harvard graduate Mitsotakis has picked a spot beneath the imposing Acropolis in Athens to tout his record of steady growth, tax cuts and a post-pandemic tourism revival that has offered debt-ridden Greece a rare respite of economic stability.

Tsipras would meanwhile travel to the western port of Patras, Greece's third-largest city, to argue that the incumbent government had handed out billions of euros to political allies, while Greeks are struggling with high inflation.

The two rivals have traveled across the country in recent weeks, giving daily speeches for a vote that — because of a change in the electoral system — may require a follow-up, which is likely on July 2.

Though current polls give Mitsotakis a clear lead of between 5 and 7 percent, the rules for Sunday's ballot set a high bar for an absolute majority that no party is likely to reach.

Mitsotakis has repeatedly urged voters not to squander away Greece's economy gains, warning that failure to give his New Democracy party a strong mandate on Sunday will lead to "paralysis" and "chaos" in the country amid geopolitical challenges like the Russia-Ukraine crisis or record inflation.

But Tsipras, a 48-year-old engineer who was prime minister from 2015 to 2019, has described Mitsotakis' government as arrogant, heartless and unscrupulous.

The left-wing leader, who led a rocky bailout negotiation in 2015 that nearly crashed Greece out of the euro, said the government's political allies have gained most from Mitsotakis' term.

Almost 10 million Greeks are eligible to cast ballots on Sunday. With nearly 440,000 Greeks as young as 16 voting for the first time, both leaders are aggressively courting the youth vote, which is heavily influenced by high unemployment.

While Greece posted growth of 5.9 percent last year, Tsipras has argued that the benefits were not trickling down to the population, with many workers still earning wages that have not kept pace with sharply rising costs.

Tsipras has championed salary hikes that Mitsotakis said will cost over 80 billion euros ($86 billion) — four times the estimate of Tsipras, who also argues that Greece could seek more financial aid at the European Union level.

Agencies Via Xinhua