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Snap parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 21 May 2023.[1][2][3] All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament were contested. They were the first elections since 1990 not to be held under a bonus seats system, due to amendments to the electoral law made in 2016. Instead, a purely proportional system was used.[4]
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited PresidentKaterina Sakellaropoulou on 22 April 2023 in order to request the dissolution of the Parliament due to a national issue of extraordinary importance (pursuant to Article 41 of the Constitution of Greece); the issue cited was the need of political stability for the achievement of investment-grade.[12][13] The election day was set for Sunday 21 May,[13] a day before the end of the 30-day period within which elections must be held following the dissolution of the Parliament.[citation needed]
A large number of parties, mostly of the far right, were stopped from running in the elections either because of legal or bureaucratic reasons.[14]
Ballot box in a Greek election centreBallots in a Greek election centre
The electoral law under which the 2023 elections were held was passed in 2016 by the SYRIZA-ANELcoalition government.[15] Under the Constitution, amendments to the electoral law come into effect starting from the second election to be held following their passage, unless they pass with a supermajority.[16]
In January 2020, soon after returning to power, New Democracy, which has always been a proponent of majority bonuses since 1974, passed a new electoral law to reinstate the bonus, albeit under a different formula. The party list with the most votes would receive up to 50 extra seats, benefitting disproportionally under a new sliding scale: It gets at least 20 extra seats (assuming it receives at least 25% of the vote) plus another extra seat for every half percentage point between 25% and 40%, for a total of 50 extra seats when reaching at least 40% of the vote. Only the remaining seats (at least 250) are proportionally distributed among all parties above 3% (including the largest party itself).[17] This 2020 law would take effect starting from the next Greek election after the May 2023 election (which turned about to be just a month later in June 2023, as election winners New Democracy wanted the extra seats to gain an absolute majority of seats).[18]
A 2019 law granted the right to vote for Greeks abroad which have lived for two years in Greece during the previous 35 years and who have submitted a tax return during the year of the election or the previous year. Voters from abroad choose the national-wide ballot of their desired party without choosing candidates, and their vote is counted equally in final results.[19] In this election only 22,857 people from the Greek diaspora were registered as voters, much fewer than expected, because of the legal restrictions in place.[20][21]
Voting was theoretically compulsory, with voter registration being automatic,[22] but, just as it happened in previous years, none of the penalties and sanctions in place for those who did not vote were enforced.[23]
Campaign
The general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece Dimitris Koutsoumpas in the general election gathering of the Communist Party in Syntagma square, Athens.
Officially, the election period began on 22 April, although the parties had begun to intensify their campaigning in the days after the first announcement of the date of election.[citation needed] The Greek politicians have employed various methods to outreach their positions, such as town hall meetings, speeches in cafes and squares, methods which are employed both by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Alexis Tsipras.[citation needed]
New Democracy campaigned on reform and opening of Greece worldwide, while associating Syriza, the rival party, with populism.[24] New Democracy's campaign focuses on tax cuts, investment promises and lower unemployment promises, as well generically on the economy, bringing up their overall management of the Greek economy,[25] with Greece being named the Top Economic Performer for 2022 by The Economist.[26] This was in particular due to Greece in 2022 being able to repay ahead of schedule 2.7 billion euros ($2.87 billion) of loans owed to Eurozone countries under the first bailout it received during its decade-long debt crisis, along with being on the verge of reaching investment-grade rating.[27][28]
PASOK, once one of the two main parties, had a campaign focusing on meritocracy, green transition, a strong healthcare system and transparency. Its leader, Nikos Androulakis, decried both Mitsotakis and Tsipras because they supported austerity measures. He insisted that a coalition government, in order to participate in it, must have a nonpartisan leader voted on consensus.[29]
The Communist Party of Greece campaigned on workers' issues, such as the exploitation of workers from employers and bad working conditions in many companies, the Tempi rail crash and the infrastructure from earlier governments, stopping Greek support to Ukraine, and the housing crisis and living standards. It also emphasized in their campaign that "each vote that goes to the Communist Party, remains there and strengthens the struggle".[30][31] It opposed the border disputes with Turkey and any other country, which, according to the Communist Party, were encouraged by NATO, the United States, and the European Union. It supported the people-friendly energy planning, and claimed that under the 2023 circumstances, energy was a way of profit for the capital. It supported public education, the legalisation of illegal migrants living and working in the country, as well a free health system. It claimed that the justice system is subordinated in the logic that prioritises profit over human life.[32]
Greek Solution supported economic patriotism, structural changes in the economy in order to reduce the dependency on tourism, the expansion of the territorial waters to 12 miles from the coast, green transition and the exploitation of the country's natural resources.[33]
MeRA25 supported a "break off from the Brussels directives and the interests of the oligarchy", the introduction of a free savings system (Dimitra), the abolition of mandatory conscription, and a change in the status of NATO membership for Greece. It supported the abolition of the energy exchange, and opposed the division of the world in geopolitical blocks. It also opposed the exploitation of the natural resources of Greece. It supported an educational reform, an independent judicial system, public health and public education.[34]
New Democracy also used the motto Greek: Η Ελλάδα δε γυρίζει πίσω, lit.'Greece is not going back', a prominent motto of the party under Konstantinos Mitsotakis' leadership during the 1993 parliamentary elections.[35][36][37] Additionally, ΚΚΕ supplemented its main slogan with: Greek: #ΤΩΡΑ_ΚΚΕ, lit.'#NOW_ΚΚΕ',[38] while PASOK-KINAL also used a secondary motto in speeches and TV spots: Greek: Απόφαση Αλλαγής, lit.'Decision for Change'[39][40] Also, Greek Solution occasionally used: Greek: Παίρνουμε την Ελλάδα στα χέρια μας!, lit.'We take Greece onto our own hands!'
Candidates' debates
On 29 April, a cross-party meeting chaired by interim Interior Minister Calliope Spanou reached an agreement to hold a six party leaders' debate on 10 May. The debate took place at 10 May 2023, 11 days before the elections. In the debate, the leaders of all 6 political parties of the Greek Parliament participated, along with 6 journalists representing all major Greek TV networks.[41] There were 6 rounds for 6 themes. The first (1st) theme concerned: Economy, Growth and Development, the second (2nd): Foreign policy and Defense, the third (3rd): State, Institutions and Transparency, the fourth (4th) Health, education and social welfare, the fifth (5th) Energy and the Environment, and the sixth (6th): New Generation (i.e., the youth). Each journalist had 30 seconds to make a question to a candidate and 15 seconds for a follow-up question.[42] The candidates had 90 seconds to answer the first question and 45 seconds for the follow-up.[42] The journalists asking the questions were Sia Kosioni, Antonis Sroiter, Mara Zacharea, Rania Tzima, Panagiotis Stathis and Georgios Papadakis.[43]
Local regression trend line of poll results from 7 July 2019 to July 2023, with each line corresponding to a political party.
Contesting parties, alliances and independents
On 2 May 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that 27 political parties, 8 alliances and one independent had met the criteria to contest the election. The names of the 36 entities are listed below in alphabetical order.[45]
Results, showing the winning party in each municipal unit. New Democracy won a total of 990 units (97%), the largest number recorded since the Kapodistrias reform of 1998.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of centre-right party New Democracy routed his main rivals in the parliamentary election, unexpectedly increasing his party's share of the vote but falling just short of an outright majority. With half of votes counted, ruling New Democracy secured more than 40 per cent, building a lead of around 20 points over its nearest rival, Alexis Tsipras's Syriza party.[46]
Aftermath
Mitsotakis declared victory, adding he would call a snap election. He said: "Greece needs a government that believes in reforms, and this cannot happen with a fragile government, New Democracy has the approval of the citizens to govern independently and strongly."[46]
New Democracy is a liberal-conservative political party in Greece. In contemporary Greek politics, New Democracy has been the main centre-right to right wing political party and one of the two major parties along with its historic rival, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). New Democracy and PASOK were created in the wake of the toppling of the military junta in 1974, ruling Greece in succession for the next four decades. Following the electoral decline of PASOK, New Democracy remained one of the two major parties in Greece, the other being the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). The party was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and in the same year it formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic. New Democracy is a member of the European People's Party, the largest European political party since 1999, the Centrist Democrat International, and the International Democracy Union.
Antonis Samaras is a Greek politician who served as 14th Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. Member of the New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his national political career as Minister of Finance in 1989; he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1992 and Minister of Culture in 2009.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Greece since 16 February 2024. In July 2023, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, head of the re-elected New Democracy party, announced his government's intention to legalise same-sex marriage. Its legalisation was part of an action plan for LGBT equality, which was drafted by a special committee appointed by Mitsotakis in 2021. Legislation was introduced to the Hellenic Parliament on 1 February 2024 and passed on 15 February by 176 votes to 76. The bill was signed into law by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and took effect upon publication in the Government Gazette on 16 February. Polling suggests that a majority of Greeks support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Greece was the 16th member state of the European Union, the 21st country in Europe, and the 36th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy party since 2016. He is generally associated with the centre-right, espousing economically liberal policies.
The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance, best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA, is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Greece. It was founded in 2004 as a political coalition of left-wing and radical left parties, and registered as a political party in 2012.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Greece are regarded as the most advanced in Southeast Europe and among all the neighboring countries. Public opinion on homosexuality in Greece is generally regarded as culturally liberal, with civil partnerships being legally recognised since 2015 and same-sex marriage since 16 February 2024.
The New Left Current is a communist political party in Greece, formed in 1990 mainly by former members of the youth organization of the Communist Party of Greece.
Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis, commonly known as Adonis Georgiadis, is a Greek politician, author, publisher and former telemarketer. Often described as being on the far right of the political spectrum, he currently serves as Vice President of New Democracy and Minister for Health in the Second Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The Third Hellenic Republic is the period in modern Greek history that stretches from 1974, with the fall of the Greek military junta and the final confirmation of the abolishment of the Greek monarchy, to the present day.
Dimitris Koutsoumpas is a Greek communist politician and member of the Hellenic Parliament who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) since 14 April 2013.
Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 20 September 2015, following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' announced resignation on 20 August. At stake were all 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament. This was a snap election, the sixth since 2007, since new elections were not due until February 2019.
The PASOK – Movement for Change is a political alliance in Greece, which was founded in March 2018, initially as "Movement for Change", mainly affiliated with the centre-left of the political spectrum. It includes the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO).
Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 7 July 2019. The elections were called by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on 26 May 2019 after the ruling Syriza party lost the European and local elections. They were the first national elections since the voting age was lowered to 17, and the number of parliamentary constituencies was increased from 56 to 59. Athens B, the largest constituency before the 2018 reforms, with 44 seats, was broken up into smaller constituencies, the largest of which had 18 seats.
The European Realistic Disobedience Front, or MeRA25, is a left-wing Greek political party founded in 2018. Its founder and General Secretary is former Syriza MP and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. MeRa25 is part of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), the European Spring, and the Progressive International. Τhe movement sets the horizon for the year 2025 to draft a democratic constitution that will replace all the European treaties that are in force today. Yet, it failed to elect representatives in both the 2019 and 2024 European elections. A party of the same name (MERA25), allied with the Greek party, was founded in Germany in 2021.
The Greek Solution is a political party in Greece founded by Kyriakos Velopoulos. The party is right-wing to far-right and has been described as ideologically ultranationalist, national conservative, and right-wing populist. The party first entered the European Parliament when it got 4.18% of the vote in the 2019 European Parliament election in Greece, winning one seat and the Hellenic Parliament when it garnered 3.7% of the vote in the 2019 Greek legislative election
The 2024 European Parliament election in Greece was held on 9 June 2024 as part of the 2024 European Parliament election. This was the first to take place after Brexit.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 25 June 2023. All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament were contested. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for the snap vote after the May 2023 elections did not result in any party gaining a majority, although his centre-right New Democracy made unanticipated gains and increased its share of the vote. As a result, no coalition government was formed by any of the parties eligible to do so.
Spartans is a political party in Greece, founded in 2017 by Vasilis Stigkas. It is considered far-right due to its strong connections with the neo-fascist and criminal organization Golden Dawn.
Stefanos Kasselakis is a Greek businessman, entrepreneur and politician, who previously served as the leader of Syriza. He is now the leader of the new political party "Movement for Democracy", which he founded in November 2024.
Internal party elections took place within SYRIZA-PS on 15 May 2022, in which the president and the members of the Central Committee were directly elected by the members of the party.
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