2009 Greek legislative election

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2009 Greek legislative election
Flag of Greece.svg
  2007 4 October 2009 May 2012  

All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament
151 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered9,929,065
Turnout70.95% (Decrease2.svg3.20pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  George Papandreou (junior).jpg Kostas Karamanlis 2009 (cropped).jpg Aleka Papariga 2009 (cropped).jpg
Leader George Papandreou Kostas Karamanlis Aleka Papariga
Party PASOK ND KKE
Last election38.10%, 102 seats41.87%, 152 seats8.15%, 22 seats
Seats won1609121
Seat changeIncrease2.svg58Decrease2.svg61Decrease2.svg1
Popular vote3,012,5422,295,719517,249
Percentage43.92%33.47%7.54%
SwingIncrease2.svg5.82 pp Decrease2.svg8.40 pp Decrease2.svg0.71 pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Georgios Karatzaferis 2011 (cropped).jpg Alexis Tsipras die 16 Ianuarii 2012.jpg
Leader Georgios Karatzaferis Alexis Tsipras
Party LAOS Syriza
Last election3.80%, 10 seats5.04%, 14 seats
Seats won1513
Seat changeIncrease2.svg5Decrease2.svg1
Popular vote386,205315,665
Percentage5.63%4.60%
SwingIncrease2.svg1.83 pp Decrease2.svg0.44 pp

2009 Greek legislative election - Vote Strength.svg
Map of electoral districts, showing the largest party by share of votes. Darker shades indicate stronger vote share.

Prime Minister before election

Kostas Karamanlis
ND

Prime Minister after election

George Papandreou
PASOK

Early parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 4 October 2009. [1] Elections were not required until September 2011, but on 2 September 2009 Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis of New Democracy announced that he would request President Karolos Papoulias dissolve Parliament and call elections. [2] Parliament was dissolved on 9 September.

Contents

The result was a victory for the opposition PASOK party led by George Papandreou, who became the new Prime Minister. New Democracy lost 61 of its 152 seats, with its vote share dropping by over 8 percentage points.

Voting was mandatory; however there are no sanctions or penalties for not voting.

Participating parties

A total of 23 parties participated in the elections. Six of them participated in only one or two parliamentary constituencies.

Opinion polls

Local regression trend line of poll results from 16 September 2007 to 4 October 2009, with each line corresponding to a political party. OpinionPollingGreeceLegislativeElection2009.svg
Local regression trend line of poll results from 16 September 2007 to 4 October 2009, with each line corresponding to a political party.

Events before the election

Leaders of the (L to R) Ecologist Greens, Popular Orthodox Rally, Coalition of the Radical Left, Communist Party, PASOK, and New Democracy parties before a televised debate Greek parliamentary elections 2009 debate.jpg
Leaders of the (L to R) Ecologist Greens, Popular Orthodox Rally, Coalition of the Radical Left, Communist Party, PASOK, and New Democracy parties before a televised debate

Exit polls and projections

The initial results of the exit poll conducted jointly by pollsters Alco, GPO, MARC, Metron Analysis, MRB, Opinion, and RASS were made public at 7 PM Eastern European DST:

Joint exit pollOctober 4, 2009 ND PASOK KKE Syriza LAOS EcoGreens Others
Vote percentage7 PM34.3-37.341.0-44.07.3-8.33.9-4.95.0-6.02.0-3.0-
Seats in Parliament7 PM94-100151-15920-2211-1314-160-

The revised results of the exit poll conducted jointly by pollsters Alco, GPO, MARC, Metron Analysis, MRB, Opinion, and RASS were made public at 8:50 PM Eastern European DST. The margin of error claimed is less than 0.5%:

Joint exit pollOctober 4, 2009 ND PASOK KKE Syriza LAOS EcoGreens Others
Vote percentage8:50 PM33.943.87.64.55.62.5-
Seats in Parliament8:50 PM921602112150-

The statistical projections by Singular Logic and the Ministry of Interior, based on actual returns, were made public at 9 PM Eastern European DST. The margin of error claimed is 0.3%:

Statistical projectionOctober 4, 2009 ND PASOK KKE Syriza LAOS EcoGreens Others
Vote percentage9 PM33.843.87.64.55.62.52.2
Seats in Parliament9 PM921602112150-

Results

Results, showing the winning party in each municipal unit. 2009 Greek legislative election - Municipal Units.png
Results, showing the winning party in each municipal unit.
Greek legislative election 2009.svg
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
PASOK 3,012,54243.92+5.82160+58
New Democracy 2,295,71933.47–8.3791–61
Communist Party of Greece 517,2497.54–0.6121–1
Popular Orthodox Rally 386,2055.63+1.8315+5
Syriza 315,6654.60–0.4413–1
Ecologist Greens 173,5892.53+1.4800
Democratic Revival 30,7840.45–0.3500
Antarsya 24,6870.36New0New
Greek Ecologists 19,9930.29+0.2700
Golden Dawn 19,6240.29New0New
Union of Centrists 18,2960.27–0.0200
Society – Political Party of the Successors of Kapodistrias 10,6900.16New0New
Communist Party of Greece (Marxist–Leninist) 10,4800.15–0.1000
Democrats7,6000.11New0New
Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Greece 5,2190.08–0.0300
Workers' Revolutionary Party 4,5370.07+0.0300
Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece 1,6650.02–0.0100
Panagrarian Labour Movement of Greece1,3750.02New0New
Smoking Groups for Art and Artistic Creation1,3550.02New0New
Light – Truth – Justice8710.01±0.0000
Friends of Man40.00New0New
Regional Urban Development40.00±0.0000
Old Republic30.00New0New
Independents2650.00±0.0000
Total6,858,421100.003000
Valid votes6,858,42197.36
Invalid votes142,9162.03
Blank votes43,2690.61
Total votes7,044,606100.00
Registered voters/turnout9,929,06570.95
Source: Ministry of Interior

By region

RegionPASOK
(%)
ND
(%)
KKE
(%)
LAOS
(%)
SYRIZA
(%)
Achaea52.6528.996.603.643.89
Aetolia-Akarnania49.4535.736.233.032.82
Argolida42.2742.554.484.163.15
Arkadia46.4636.545.134.793.76
Arta45.1438.996.042.584.67
Athens A35.5231.759.557.597.98
Athens B40.2326.6210.847.287.40
Attica43.1229.468.238.234.94
Boeotia47.3531.087.306.173.90
Cephalonia41.8333.0412.254.673.73
Chalkidiki41.0240.475.005.474.05
Chania51.1129.735.983.644.37
Chios49.8133.945.383.553.37
Corfu43.3632.8311.963.544.29
Corinthia46.8036.034.005.283.77
Dodecanese54.9330.743.964.122.71
Drama41.6341.263.826.333.26
Elis54.6432.754.323.082.57
Euboea48.1931.086.726.013.90
Evros44.7440.333.765.922.09
Evrytania51.2037.563.242.972.27
Florina44.0241.634.623.542.95
Grevena46.9136.647.313.562.60
Imathia43.3137.016.916.163.16
Ioannina43.9436.127.513.504.90
Heraklion62.7423.704.442.103.71
Karditsa43.3139.837.504.022.88
Kastoria34.6050.034.004.463.76
Kavala42.4137.386.006.014.06
Kilkis40.8539.937.266.392.49
Kozani44.0839.715.763.663.29
Laconia36.4747.264.805.592.84
Larissa40.8136.189.465.693.98
Lasithi59.3727.513.472.193.84
Lefkada41.6637.0110.422.375.16
Lesvos42.1931.0614.104.034.43
Magnesia40.3935.558.795.824.66
Messenia39.0643.265.745.073.62
Kyklades44.8936.035.104.194.64
Pella43.0441.484.365.512.52
Phocis40.2239.736.925.243.58
Phthiotis43.8540.354.924.662.82
Pieria41.3742.275.295.342.81
Piraeus A38.8832.978.117.565.83
Piraeus B44.3423.0612.887.585.69
Preveza42.9838.898.043.093.88
Rethymno57.9127.413.753.103.90
Rhodope53.0834.522.483.614.27
Samos38.3429.7218.053.975.13
Serres37.1046.775.025.362.52
Thesprotia48.7536.614.603.063.47
Thessaloniki A39.1130.309.538.265.77
Thessaloniki B38.2337.627.577.484.08
Trikala45.1437.638.223.802.54
Xanthi58.7926.212.754.414.56
Zakynthos47.5529.7311.183.644.23

Post-election events

Former Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis and George Papandreou in the ceremony for the official handover at the Maximos Mansion. Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou - ceremony for the official handover 2009Oct06.jpg
Former Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis and George Papandreou in the ceremony for the official handover at the Maximos Mansion.

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References

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  2. "Greece's PM calls snap election". BBC.com. 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
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  4. Paul Anast (2009-10-05). "Greece's opposition Socialists resoundingly win snap election". London: telegraph.co.uk. paragraph 2. Retrieved 5 October 2009. I am beginning the procedures for an extraordinary congress to elect a new leader...
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  6. ELENA BECATOROS. "Socialists trounce conservatives in Greek election". Yahoo! News. paragraph 2. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2009. Humbled by his New Democracy party's worst electoral performance ever
  7. Paul Anast (2009-10-05). "Greece's opposition Socialists resoundingly win snap election". London: telegraph.co.uk. paragraph 4. Retrieved 5 October 2009. The results were the worst for the governing conservative New Democracy party in 30 years.
  8. 1 2 "RFI - Socialists hail perfect storm of support, as Papandreou takes over". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 2012-05-13.
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  10. "Στον Πρόεδρο για την εντολή σχηματισμού κυβέρνησης ο Γ.Παπανδρέου - George Papandreou visits the President to receive a mandate to form a Cabinet" (in Greek). in.gr. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
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Further reading