Kyriakos Mitsotakis Elected to Lead Greece’s Conservatives

New Democracy voters choose former administrative reforms minister over rival Vagelis Meimarakis

By STELIOS BOURAS

Updated Jan. 10, 2016 6:44 p.m. ET

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ATHENS—Greece’s main opposition party, center-right New Democracy, elected Kyriakos Mitsotakis as its new leader, a party spokesman said, making the 47-year-old former minister the main challenger to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Mr. Mitsotakis, the American-educated scion of one of Greece’s most prominent political dynasties, is an advocate of market-oriented economic overhauls, including slimming down Greece’s often-inefficient state. His surprise victory in Sunday’s party leadership ballot provides a boost to the cause of economic reforms of the kind demanded by Greece’s creditors, whose bailout loans have been keeping Greece from bankruptcy since 2010.

Mr. Mitsotakis had won 51% of the vote, with his rival, former party leader Vagelis Meimarakis, on 49%, based on an incomplete vote. Many of the uncounted votes late Sunday were in Athens, a stronghold of Mr. Mitsotakis, leading party officials to say the outcome was clear.

Mr. Meimarakis, who went into Sunday’s ballot as favorite, conceded defeat and wished Mr. Mitsotakis luck as leader in a tweet.

In comments minutes after the election results were made public, Mr. Mitsotakis called for unity in a party whose factional rivalries and lack of a clear direction have weakened its ability to challenge Prime Minister Tsipras and the ruling left-wing Syriza party.

“Our target is one: for New Democracy to represent everyone in the country who opposes the populism of an incompetent government,” Mr. Mitsotakis said.

Mr. Mitsotakis faced the opposition of much of his party’s establishment, but gained support from primary voters who believe party should stand more clearly for economic overhauls.

New Democracy formed part of the Greek governments that carried out austerity measures under the country’s bailout program in 2012-14, but its commitment to free-market overhauls was unsteady. Mr. Mitsotakis, the minister tasked with reforming Greece’s sclerotic public administration during that time, was viewed as one of the most reform-minded cabinet members during that time.

New Democracy lost two successive elections to Syriza last year. Syriza has had major tensions with Greece’s creditors—other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund—and is struggling to satisfy lenders’ demands for unpopular overhauls including cuts in pension benefits.

Mr. Mitsotakis is expected to be an outspoken critic of the government, which comprises Syriza and its junior coalition partner, the right-wing Independent Greeks. The new opposition leader argues that freer markets are needed to lead the country to recovery. But he has also criticized the heavy austerity measures that lenders have imposed in exchange for bailout loans, which Greeks widely blame for deepening their country’s eight-year-long economic slump.

Mr. Mitsotakis has ruled out cooperating with the government, which has called on the opposition to support it as it enacts painful pension overhauls and tax hikes.

The win by Mr. Mitsotakis signals a deep desire for change among Greeks, analysts say.

“He is a person who represents reform, a continuation of the work done by Greek leaders in the past that led the country into the eurozone,” said Harris Mylonas, assistant professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. The impact of Sunday’s ballot “goes beyond New Democracy’s internal politics” and could shift the national debate, energizing Greeks who want more economic change, Mr. Mylonas said.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Mr. Mitsotakis can connect with Greek voters beyond his core supporters, who tend to be more affluent and educated than average. Analysts say he lacks the popular touch of Mr. Tsipras, whose charisma has helped turn Syriza from a marginal group into Greece’s strongest party.

Some 320,000 people took part in Sunday’s ballot, after having paid a small fee to register for the first round of New Democracy’s leadership election in December.

The conservative party’s leadership battle comes as the government, which has a majority of only three seats in Greece’s 300-seat parliament, faces a difficult few months. Creditors are pushing for pension reforms and tax hikes in return for further bailout funding. Mr. Tsipras is trying to reassure Syriza’s lawmakers and supports that he can fend off lenders’ pressure for outright pension cuts.

New Democracy has rejected the government’s proposals on pension reform, which seek to protect current retirees’ benefits and rely on raising employers’ social-security contributions. But the opposition party has yet to spell out what it would do differently.

Write to Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@wsj.com