Elections in Greece

Elections in Greece gives information on elections and election results in Greece.

Election of the legislature

The Greek Parliament (Voulí ton Ellínon) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term by a system of 'reinforced' proportional representation in 56 constituencies, 48 of which are multi-seat and 8 single-seat. Seats are determined by constituency voting, and voters may select the candidate or candidates of their choice by marking their name on the party ballot. However, the party receiving the largest number of votes receives a 50-seat premium, which is filled by candidates of that party not declared elected on the lower rungs (the constituencies).

Greek citizens aged 18 and over on the year of the election are eligible to vote, and at the age of 25 and over are also eligible to be elected to Parliament. Women's suffrage was adopted in 1930.

Constituencies

Constituencies in Greece have traditionally been multi-seat, and they mostly coincide with prefectures. The number of seats is adjusted once every ten years, following the decennial population census. Prefecture constituencies may not be deprived of representation, nor may they be merged with another prefecture; they may however be split into smaller constituencies if their population increases disproportionately: nevertheless this has not been done since 1967. Population changes have left eight (Kefalonia, Lefkas, Eurytania, Grevena, Samos, Thesprotia, Phocis and Zakynthos) prefectures with a single parliamentary seat each, whereas some urban or suburban constituencies have seen large increases in their seat allotment over the years.

For example the "Athens B" constituency (which includes the major part of the Athens metropolitan area but excludes the Municipality of Athens itself, which forms the "Athens A" constituency) encompasses almost 15% of the country's electorate and consequently elects 42 members of parliament. The "Athens A" constituency elects 17 MPs, "Thessaloniki A" elects 16, Attica (excluding the four Athens and Piraeus A and B constituencies) elects 12, and the remaining constituencies elect single-digit numbers of MPs.

Voting

Polling takes place in school buildings on a Sunday, a festive occasion for students who are then given a four-day weekend off. The procedure is run by a presiding judge or attorney-at-law appointed by the local Bar association, and secretarially assisted by local citizens selected by lot in a process resembling jury duty. Local police are available too. Local party representatives are allowed to monitor tallying; their theoretical role is to ensure transparency.

Traditionally, voting takes place "from sunrise to sunset" but times are usually rounded to the nearest "top of the hour" (e.g., 7 am to 8 pm). Individual precincts may prolong voting time at the judge's discretion, if there are still voters queueing up to vote. Voters identify themselves by their ID cards and are given the full number of ballot papers for the constituency plus a blank ballot paper and an empty envelope. Then they withdraw to a secluded cubicle equipped with a lectern, pen and waste basket, where they select the ballot paper of their choice, if any, and mark the candidate(s) of their choice, if any; they cast the sealed envelope with the ballot paper in the ballot box and are given their ID card back.

Voters may select specific candidates within the party list of their choice by marking a cross next to the candidate name or names. The maximum allowable number of crosses on the ballot paper depends on the number of seats contested. Signs other than crosses next to a candidate name may mark the ballot as invalid during tallying, as such findings may be construed to violate voting secrecy. Ballot papers with more crosses than the maximum number allowed, or without any cross, are counted in the total party tally but are disqualified during the second part of tallying, i.e. the determination of which individual candidate is elected to a seat already won by the candidate's party.

Once on-the-spot tallying is over and the tallies reported officially, the ballots are sealed and transported to the Central Election Service of the Interior Ministry. There ballots are recounted, mainly in order to ascertain the validity or invalidity of the few ambiguously marked ballot papers. Any unresolved matters following this recount are referred to the specially convened Eklogodikeion (Court of Election), which adjudicates and then officially publishes the names of elected MPs, so that the new Parliament may convene. The Court of Election may reconvene at any time in order to discuss appeals by candidates who failed to be elected, and also to fill seats that become vacant in the case of death or abdication of an MP. Such seats are filled by going down the preference tally of the party list that won the seat in the first place (there are no by-elections in Greece unless a party list is exhausted: an extremely rare occurrence).

Greek citizens permanently living in European Union countries are allowed to vote in European Parliament elections; nevertheless very few of them actually vote as they have to do so in person at their local Greek embassy or consulate.

Electoral system

The electoral system used is referred to as "reinforced proportionality", a form of semi-proportional representation with a majority bonus: The party that wins a plurality of votes cast is awarded an extra 50 seats. Small parties on the other hand need to reach an electoral threshold of 3% in order to be represented in parliament. These provisions help the party or coalition that wins a plurality to achieve an absolute majority (151 out of 300 parliamentary seats); this is intended to enhance governmental stability.

The current electoral law was used for the first time in the May 2012 election. It reserves 50 parliamentary seats for the party or coalition of parties that is supported by a plurality of votes cast. If the largest party or coalition has won at least 40.4% of the vote, these extra reserved seats will be sufficient to ensure it a majority in parliament. The remaining 250 seats are divided proportionally according to each party's total valid vote percentage; this is slightly higher than the raw percentage reported, as there is always a small number of invalidated or "blank" votes (usually less than 1%), as well as the percentage of smaller parties that fail to surpass the 3% threshold, all of which are disregarded for the purpose of seat allotment. The previous law (used in the 2009 legislative elections) was less favorable for the plurality party, as only 40 additional seats were reserved for them.

A rather complicated set of rules deals with rounding decimal results up or down, and ensures that the smaller a constituency is, the more strictly proportional its parliamentary representation will be. Another set of rules apportions the 50 seat premium for the largest-tallying party among constituencies. Individual seats are apportioned by "cross of preference". Voters mark a cross next to the name of the candidate or candidates they prefer, the number of crosses varying from one to five depending on constituency size. Ballots with no crosses or more crosses than allowed, count for only the party but not the individual candidates.

Tallying is done manually in the presence of representatives of all contesting parties. Party tallying, which is easier, is done first so that returns may be announced quickly. Individual candidate tallying is done next and can take several days. Once the number of seats per party and constituency is determined, the seats are filled on a top-down basis from the individual cross-of-preference tallies. Party heads and acting or past Prime Ministers are exempt from cross-of-preference voting: they are automatically placed at the top of their party list and are elected, provided their party achieves at least one seat in the particular constituency.

By constitutional provision, the electoral law can be changed by simple parliamentary majority, but a law so changed comes into effect in the next-but-one election, unless a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority (200 or more votes) is achieved. Only in the latter case is the new electoral law effective at the next election. A case in point is the current electoral law, which was passed in 2007. Because this law was passed by a simple majority, it was not used for the subsequent 2009 election, but was then used in the 2012 election.

Greek electoral laws since 1974

Law's "trademark"	Passed in	Passed by	Applied in (election year)	Approximate nationwide vote percentage needed for an absolute majority of seats in Parliament for the first-past-the-post party	Threshold
Reinforced proportionality	1974	New Democracy	'74, '77, '81, '85 (the premium of seats was reduced)	in almost any case (40% and a clear advantage were necessary in '74 elections)	none for the first seat allocation (in prefectures), but 17% for the second one in peripheries (this threshold was not in force during '85 elections)
Simple proportionality	1989	Panhellenic Socialist Movement	'89 (Jun), '89 (Nov), '90	47%+	none
Reinforced proportionality	1990	New Democracy	'93, '96, '00, '04	in almost any case	3%
Reinforced proportionality	2004	Panhellenic Socialist Movement	'07, '09	41.5%+	3%
Reinforced proportionality (current)	2007	New Democracy	'12 (May), '12 (Jun), '15 (Jan), '15 (Sep)	39%+	3%

Electorate

All Greek citizens aged 18 or over in the year of the election are eligible to vote, provided they are on the electoral register, unless:

• they are imprisoned for a criminal offence and they have been expressly deprived of the right to vote by judicial decision (this happens only in the rare cases of high treason or mutiny). Incarcerated persons vote in polling stations specially set up inside prisons
• they are mentally incapable of making a reasoned judgement, according to a judicial decision. In practice, this applies only to a percentage of institutionalised mental patients

In the past, citizens who reached adulthood had to register and were issued an "election booklet" with which they voted. Nowadays, registration for voters is not needed: it is done automatically as each citizen comes of age. Identity is proved by state-issued ID cards or passport. Special registration is necessary only for absentee voting, which is done at the place of a voter's temporary residence on election day. Many Greeks choose to retain their voting rights in their family's original home, sometimes by reason of tradition, sometimes by reason of patronage. The Constitution provides, following the amendment of 2001, for the right of Greek citizens living abroad to vote for the legislative elections. Nevertheless, no law implementing the constitutional provision has yet been passed.

Compulsory voting is the law in Greece but is not enforced. In the past a citizen had to present an up-to-date election booklet in order to be issued a driver licence or a passport, or else justify why they did not vote (e.g. because of absence, infirmity, or advanced old age). Nowadays the civic duty of voting is still considered "mandatory" but there are no sanctions for failing to vote. Turnout is usually high, typically between 70 and 80% for legislative elections and slightly lower for local administrative and European Parliament ones.

Political culture

Further information: List of political parties in Greece

Before 1910, Greece lacked a coherent party system in accordance with the traits of the modern representative democracy. The political formations of the 19th century lacked a steady organizational structure and a clear ideological orientation. Sometimes, they constituted just the incoherent and ephemeral escort of a prominent politician.

The first Greek parties with an ideological background, conforming to the modern conception of a political party, appeared after 1910, when Eleftherios Venizelos rose to predominance in Greek political life and founded his Liberal Party. The liberal wave of Venizelism resulted soon in the reaction of the "old-system" political leaders, who formed the core of an opposing conservative movement, which used the monarchy as its main rallying banner. Thereby, the two biggest ideological movements, the republican centrist-liberal and the monarchist conservative, emerged and formed massive political organizations.

The centrist and the conservative parties bitterly confronted each other in the ensuing legislative elections for many decades, until metapolitefsi. After the metapolitefsi of 1974, the leftist-socialist movement supplanted the centrists and took the main part of their electorate. A smaller part of erstwhile centrists, along with most conservatives, affiliated themselves with the centre-right New Democracy party, which self-defined as a liberal party and drafted the republican Constitution of 1975.

Until recently, Greece has had a two-party system dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy (ND) and the center-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Other parties won far fewer seats. Beginning in the May and June 2012 legislative elections, SYRIZA (the Coalition of the Radical Left) overtook PASOK as the main force of the left wing. After almost three years of opposition to the ND-PASOK coalition government, SYRIZA took the most votes in the January 2015 elections and formed government, while PASOK just barely crossed the threshold.

Currently, the left is represented in Parliament by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), SYRIZA, and PASOK. At the center is Stavros Theodorakis' liberal party To Potami (The River). To the right of ND, the Independent Greeks and Golden Dawn have small Parliamentary groups.

Greek parties in government since 1974

Parties

'74

'77

'81

'85

'89

'89

'90

'93

'96

'00

'04

'07

'09

'11

'12

'13

'14

'15

New Democracy (ND)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) (as part of Synaspismos)

X

X

Synaspismos (SYN) / Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA)

X

X

X

Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS)

X

Democratic Left (Greece) (DIMAR)

X

Agreement for the New Greece (SNE) (as part of PASOK after 22/08/2014)

X

Independent Greeks (ANEL)

X

Ecologist Greens (OP)

X

Christian Democratic Party of the Overthrow (XPIKA)

X

January 2015 election

Summary of the 25 January 2015 Hellenic Parliament election results

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA)	2,246,064	36.34	9.45	149	78
	New Democracy (ND)	1,718,815	27.81	1.85	76	53
	Golden Dawn (XA)	388,447	6.28	0.64	17	1
	To Potami (Potami)	373,868	6.05	New	17	17
	Communist Party of Greece (KKE)	338,138	5.47	0.97	15	3
	Independent Greeks (ANEL)	293,371	4.75	2.76	13	7
	Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Democratic Alignment (PASOK-DP)	289,482	4.68	7.60	13	20
	Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO)	152,230	2.46	New	0	±0
	Union of Centrists (EK)	110,826	1.79	1.50	0	±0
	Teleia (Apostolos Gkletsos)	109,483	1.77	New	0	±0
	Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS)	63,692	1.03	0.55	0	±0
	Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left- MARS (ANTARSYA-MARS)	39,455	0.64	0.32	0	±0
	Greens–Democratic Left (Prasinoi-DIMAR)	30,074	0.49	5.76	0	17
	Marxist–Leninist Communist Parties of Greece (KKE (m-l)/M-L KKE)	8,033	0.13	0.01	0	±0
	Democratic National Reform Union (EDEM)	7,608	0.12	New	0	±0
	Greek People's Democratic Liberation (ELLADA)	4,789	0.08	New	0	±0
	Workers' Revolutionary Party (EEK)	2,441	0.04	New	0	±0
	Organisation of Internationalist Communists of Greece (OKDE)	2,206	0.04	New	0	±0
	Independent candidates	1,414	0.02	0.02	0	±0
	National Resistance Movement (KEAN)	619	0.01	0.01	0	±0
	Groundbreaking Orthodox Solidarity Front (ROMA)	105	0.00	New	0	±0
	Greek White Movement of Today's Ideology (ELKSI)	87	0.00	New	0	±0
	Panagrarian Labour Movement of Greece (PAEKE)	27	0.00	±0.00	0	±0
Total		6,181,274	100.00		300	±0
Valid votes		6,181,274	97.64	1.37
Invalid ballots		114,703	1.81	1.23
Blank ballots		34,809	0.55	0.14
Votes cast / turnout		6,330,786	63.87	1.38
Abstentions		3,580,709	35.13	1.38
Registered voters		9,911,495
Source: Ministry of Interior

Seats won in the new parliament

  Coalition of the Radical Left: 149 seats

  New Democracy: 76 seats

  Golden Dawn: 17 seats

  Potami: 17 seats

  Communist Party: 15 seats

  Independent Greeks: 13 seats

  Panhellenic Socialist Movement: 13 seats

Election of the President of the Republic

The Presidential Standard of Greece

The head of state – the President of the Hellenic Republic – is elected by Parliament for a five-year term, and a maximum of two terms in office. Eligible for President is any person who:

• has had Greek citizenship for at least five years,
• has a father or a mother of Greek origin,
• is 40 years old or more,
• is eligible to vote.

When a presidential term expires, Parliament votes to elect the new President. In the first two votes, a 2/3 majority (200 votes) is necessary. The third and final vote requires a 3/5 (180 votes) majority. If the third vote is fruitless, Parliament is dissolved and elections are proclaimed by the outgoing President within the next 30 days.

In the new Parliament, the election for President is repeated immediately with a 3/5 majority required for the initial vote, an absolute majority (151 votes) for the second one and a ballot between the two persons with the highest number of votes in the second election for the third and final one. The system is so designed as to promote consensus Presidential candidates among the main political parties.

Elected Presidents of the Third Hellenic Republic (1974–present)

File:Proedria.png

The insignia of the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic

From-To	President	Supported by	Elected in the
June 19, 1975 – May 15, 1980	Constantine Tsatsos	New Democracy	first vote
May 15, 1980 – March 10, 1985	Constantine Karamanlis	New Democracy KODISO Communist Party of Greece (Interior)	third vote
March 30, 1985 – May 4, 1990	Christos Sartzetakis	Panhellenic Socialist Movement Communist Party of Greece	third vote
May 4, 1990 – March 10, 1995	Constantine Karamanlis	New Democracy	second vote after elections
March 10, 1995 – March 11, 2000	Kostis Stephanopoulos	Panhellenic Socialist Movement Political Spring	third vote
March 11, 2000 – March 12, 2005	Kostis Stephanopoulos	New Democracy Panhellenic Socialist Movement	first vote
March 12, 2005 – March 13, 2010	Karolos Papoulias	New Democracy Panhellenic Socialist Movement	first vote
February 3, 2010 – March 13, 2015	Karolos Papoulias	Panhellenic Socialist Movement New Democracy Popular Orthodox Rally	first vote
March 14, 2015 - present	Prokopis Pavlopoulos	Coalition of the Radical Left New Democracy Independent Greeks	first vote after elections

European Parliament elections

Main article: European Parliament elections in Greece

Greece has had a delegation of Members of the European Parliament in the European Parliament since Greek accession to the EU in 1984. Originally, the Greek delegation numbered 25, but after 2004 that was reduced to 24 (due to the increase of the EU member countries). In 2009, it was further reduced to 22, and in 2014 to 21 MEPs.

Electoral system

In the European elections, the whole country forms a single constituency and an electoral threshold is set at 3% of the vote. Members of the government and elected members of the Hellenic Parliament may only stand for election after having resigned from office.

Until 2014, the MEPs were elected on the basis of a party-list proportional representation system. Starting with the 2014 European Parliament election, candidates are elected on the basis of individual preference votes with a maximum of four preferences per voter.

Latest election

Main article: European Parliament election, 2014 (Greece)

Presently, there are seven Greek parties represented in the European Parliament: Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), New Democracy, Golden Dawn, Elia (PASOK), To Potami, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Independent Greeks (ANEL).

 Summary of the results of Greece's 25 May 2014 election to the European Parliament

← 2009 • 2014 • 2019 →
National party		European party	Leader(s)	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA)	PEL	Alexis Tsipras	1,518,608	26.57	21.87	6 / 21	5
	New Democracy (ND)	EPP	Antonis Samaras	1,298,713	22.72	9.57	5 / 21	3
	Golden Dawn (XA)	ENF	Nikolaos Michaloliakos	536,910	9.39	8.93	3 / 21	3
	Olive Tree – Democratic Alignment (ELIA DA)	PES	Evangelos Venizelos (PASOK)	458,403	8.02	28.62	2 / 21	6
	The River (TO POTAMI)	None	Stavros Theodorakis	377,438	6.60	new	2 / 21	2
	Communist Party (KKE)	None	Dimitris Koutsoumpas	349,255	6.11	2.24	2 / 21	0
	Independent Greeks (ANEL)	None	Panos Kammenos	197,701	3.46	new	1 / 21	1
	Popular Orthodox Rally	MELD	Georgios Karatzaferis	154,027	2.69	4.45	0 / 21	2
	Greek European Citizens	None	Jorgo Chatzimarkakis	82,350	1.40	new	0 / 21	0
	Democratic Left	None	Fotis Kouvelis	68,873	1.20	new	0 / 21	0
	Union for the Fatherland and the People	None	Vyron Polydoras	59,341	1.04	new	0 / 21	0
	Party of Greek Hunters	None	Giorgos Tsagkanelias	57,014	1.00	0.27	0 / 21	0
	Others (parties or candidates that won less than 1% of the vote and no seats)			(103,422)	9.76	—	0 / 21	1
Valid votes
Blank and invalid votes
Totals				'	100.00	—	21 / 21	1
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout					59.96
Source:

Local elections

Local administration in Greece recently underwent extensive reform in two phases: the first phase, implemented in 1997 and commonly called the "Kapodistrias Project", consolidated the country's numerous municipalities and communities down to approximately 1000. The second phase, initially called "Kapodistrias II" but eventually named the "Callicrates Project", was implemented in 2010; it further consolidated municipalities down to 370, and merged the country's 54 prefectures into 13 peripheries. The Callicratean municipalities were designed according to several guidelines; for example each island (except Crete) was formed into a single municipality, while the majority of small towns were incorporated so as to have an average municipal population of 25,000.

The first prefectural elections took place in 1994; previously, prefects were executive appointees. Municipal elections were held since the formation of the modern Greek state, in the early 19th century.

Local administrators elected in 2010, following the Callicrates reform, are to serve a "rump" 3.5 year term. Starting in 2014, peripheral and municipal elections are to be held every five years, concurrently with elections for the European Parliament. In all local elections, the winning candidacy list is guaranteed a minimum three-fifths majority in the respective councils.

Past local elections since 1974

• Greek local elections, 1975
• Greek local elections, 1978
• Greek local elections, 1982
• Greek local elections, 1986
• Greek local elections, 1990
• Greek local elections, 1994
• Greek local elections, 1998
• Greek local elections, 2002
• Greek local elections, 2006
• Greek local elections, 2010
• Greek local elections, 2014

Referendums

The current Constitution provides for two kinds of referendums:

• a referendum concerning a "passed law"
• a referendum concerning a matter of "national interest".

The latest referendum was indeed concerning a matter of "national interest", in contrast to all the previous ones that concerned the form of government, specifically regarding the Greek monarchy.

Previous referendums

There were 7 referendums in Greece from 1920 to 1974. All but one had to do with the form of government, namely retention/reestablishment or abolition of the monarchy. The 1974 referendum resulted in confirming of the parliamentary republic. The only referendum not concerning only the form of government was the constitutional referendum in 1968 held by the military junta. There were no referendums in Greece between 1974 and 2015.

See also

• Politics of Greece

External links

• parties and elections
• Greek constituencies
• NSD: European Election Database – Greece publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990–2009