Polls have opened in Greece in the second general election in less than two months with the ruling conservative party strong favourites to win a wide majority.

The 55-year-old conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is eyeing a second four-year term as prime minister after his New Democracy party won by a huge margin in May, but fell short of gaining enough parliamentary seats to form a government.

With a new electoral law favouring the winning party with bonus seats, he is hoping to win enough seats to form a strong majority in the 300-member parliament.

Greek vote
A woman who has just got married takes the time to vote at a polling station in Athens (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)

His main rival is Alexis Tsipras, the 48-year-old head of the left-wing Syriza party who served as prime minister from 2015-2019, during some of the most turbulent years of Greece’s nearly decade-long financial crisis.

Mr Tsipras fared dismally in the May elections, coming a distant second, 20% behind New Democracy. He has been trying to rally his voter base, a task complicated by splinter parties formed by some of his former associates.

Sunday’s vote comes just over a week after hundreds of migrants died and went missing in southern Greece when an over-crowded fishing trawler capsized and sank, drawing criticism over how Greek authorities handled the rescue.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking a second four-year term as prime minister (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)

But the disaster, one of the worst in the Mediterranean in recent years, did little to dent Mr Mitsotakis’ 20-point lead in opinion polls with Greeks mainly focused on economic issues.

As Greece gradually recovers from its brutal financial crisis, voters appear happy to return to power a prime minister who delivered economic growth and lowered unemployment.