ATHENS, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Greek voters have given Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his center-right New Democracy (ND) party a strong mandate to form a new government, after it won over the incumbent left-wing Syriza party, which has ruled the country since 2015, Greek media reported.
The Greek Press on Monday focused on the challenges the new leader faces.
"The new government must immediately show first positive steps in order to meet the high expectations of the electorate expressed by the strong mandate and markets, and the impressive rally in bonds and the stock exchange that preceded it," wrote Naftemporiki (Shipping Industry News) newspaper.
"The beginning is half of everything. There will be a grace period, but it will not be long, because the challenges are many and pressing. The road will be long and difficult. But Greece can and must become a truly normal country," it added.
Kathimerini (The Daily) newspaper commented that New Democracy is the traditional mainstream party that the crisis could not defeat.
The resistance that this party showed during the crisis and the fact that it was the only party in the political map that virtually did not alter its power is interpreted by its electoral base, the article said. The center-right base has been the most compact and stable on the political scene since the late 19th century.
"The fact that Kyriakos Mitsotakis achieved such a great victory is his personal achievement, because he managed to rally all the 'races' of the traditional center-right, people of the center, people who had not been involved in politics, technocrats, even old leftists," the article concluded.
"The real political battle for Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his staff starts right now. He is already aware that the election was probably the easiest part of this process," To Vima (The Tribune) newspaper reported.
The new prime minister faces among others the challenge of producing immediate results, overcoming economic difficulties, the problem of privatizations, the battle of institutional reforms, the question of constitutional review, and challenges in Greek-Turkish relations, the editorial read.
According to Efimerida ton Syntakton (Editors' Journal), the elections have finally enabled the country to enter a new political era with a new two-party political system and new stable policies, but there are also some unstable factors which may cause turbulence in the economy and society in the future.
