Kyriakos Mitsotakis Thinks Greece Is Done With Populism

Kyriakos Mitsotakis thinks he’s seen the political future—and it’s in his poll numbers. At a time when centrists across Europe are in retreat, Greece’s opposition leader believes his country has had its populist moment and is ready to vote for a straight-talking pragmatist. “The pendulum tends to swing [back] in the other direction,” he tells Newsweek in his Athens office. “I think that's where we are right now.”

Soberly dressed but energetic—the orderliness of his neat blue shirt and tie contrasts with the constant motion of his hands as they twirl a string of black worry beads—Mitsotakis, 48, has charisma. But it’s different from the electric, unrestrained style of his chief political opponent, Alexis Tsipras, the 42-year-old prime minister and a former Communist. If the Syriza party leader is like a rebellious student, Mitsotakis is like a patient schoolteacher.

Since his election in January to the leadership New Democracy, Mitsotakis has helped it sustain a lead over the Syriza-led leftist government in Greek opinion polls that registers in the double digits. Elections aren’t due until 2019, but Mitsotakis is calling for them to be brought forward over the government’s handling of the economy, and he predicts he would win a vote if one is held in 2017.