Greek leftist Alexis Tsipras stormed back into office with an unexpectedly decisive election victory, claiming a clear mandate to steer Greece’s battered economy to recovery. The vote ensured Europe’s most outspoken leftist leader would remain Greece’s dominant political figure, despite having been abandoned by party radicals. In a victory speech to cheering crowds in a central Athens square, he promised a new phase of stability in a country that has held five general elections in six years.

With around 90 per cent of the votes counted, his Syriza party won 35.53 per cent of the vote compared to 28.05 per cent for conservative New Democracy. When elected in January, Tsipras became Greece’s youngest prime minister in 150 years on taking office and a beacon for anti-austerity campaigners across the European Union.

The latest projection gives Syriza 145 seats in the 300-seat parliament, with New Democracy on 75. This is only four fewer than Mr Tsipras’s thumping victory in January, but again leaves him just short of an absolute majority.

Test Your GK

Name the president of Greece’s supreme court, who sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of a caretaker government?

Test Your English

What is the meaning of Thumping?