General election in Greece 2004
The 2004 general election in Greece took place on March 7, 2004. In the election, the 300 members of the Greek Parliament were redefined.
The elections were won by Konstantinos Karamanlis and his party, the liberal-conservative New Democracy (ND). The competing PASOK with its top candidate Georgios Papandreou received 3.24 percentage points less than in the April 2000 election .
Right to vote and compulsory voting
A three percent clause applies in the Greek electoral law . According to Greek electoral law, the votes of small parties that cannot exceed this hurdle are automatically assigned to the strongest party in the distribution of seats in order to facilitate the formation of a government. In addition, a simple majority of the votes is sufficient for the strongest party to gain a majority of the 300 seats in parliament; So it doesn't necessarily have to be a coalition to get an absolute majority.
In Greece, the publication of polling election forecasts is banned for 2 weeks before the election date. Post-election polls (published immediately after polling stations are closed) are the first indicator of the possible outcome of the election.
In Greece voting is compulsory for all Greek citizens over 18 years of age; failure will not be pursued. The turnout in the 2004 parliamentary elections was around 79 percent. The combination of compulsory voting and the Greek right to register causes an increased volume of travel with each election, as the “home town” has to be chosen, which often does not match the place of residence. Employees can get up to three days off, ferry tickets are financed in large quantities by the major parties.
Parties
17 different parties ran for election.
The parties represented in Parliament so far:
Parliamentary parties | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
logo | Surname | Alignment | Top candidate | ||
Nea Dimokratia (ND) Νέα Δημοκρατία (ΝΔ) New Democracy |
conservative | Kostas Karamanlis | |||
Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima (PASOK) Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα (ΠΑΣΟΚ) Panhellenic Socialist Movement |
social democratic | Giorgos Papandreou | |||
Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (KKE) Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας (KKE) Communist Party of Greece |
Communist | Aleka Papariga | |||
Synaspismos tis Rizospastikis Aristeras (SYRIZA) Συνασπισμός της Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς (ΣΥΡΙΖΑ) Coalition of the Radical Left |
left socialist | Nikos Konstantopoulos |
The election campaign
In January, Nea Dimokratia was 7% ahead of PASOK in the polls. After Papandreou was elected party chairman, PASOK caught up in the polls. At the end of February the Nea Dimokratia lead had fallen to 3%. The choice became a neck-and-neck race.
The high point of the election campaign was the traditional election rally in Athens . On the evening of March 4th, Karamanlis was cheered by an estimated 200,000 followers. The final rally of PASOK claimed to have mobilized twice as many supporters at its final rally on March 6th . None of the numbers have been independently confirmed.
Election result
The Nea Dimokratia (ND) party was the clear winner of the election and won the absolute majority of seats in parliament with 45.36%. With that she could rule alone.
Political party | be right | Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
number | % | +/- | number | +/- | ||
New Democracy (ND) | 3,359,682 | 45.36 | +2.62 | 165 | +40 | |
Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima (PASOK) | 3,003,275 | 40.55 | −3.24 | 117 | −41 | |
Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (KKE) | 436.706 | 5.90 | +0.38 | 12 | +1 | |
Synaspismos tis Rizospastikis Aristeras (SYRIZA) | 241,637 | 3.26 | +0.06 | 6th | ± 0 | |
Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos (LAOS) | 162.151 | 2.19 | New | 0 | New | |
Dimokratiko Kinoniko Kinima (DIKKI) | 132,782 | 1.79 | −0.90 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Enosi Kentroon (EK) | 19,531 | 0.26 | −0.08 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Metopo Rizospastikis Aristeras (MERA) | 11,264 | 0.15 | +0.03 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Kommunistiko Komma Elladas (marxistiko-leninistiko) (KKE (ml)) | 10,753 | 0.15 | +0.04 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Anikapitalistiki Symmachia | 8,315 | 0.11 | - | 0 | - | |
Elliniko Metopo | 6,751 | 0.09 | New | 0 | New | |
Marxistiko-Leninistiko Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (ML KKE) | 4,848 | 0.07 | −0.02 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Agonistikó Sosialistikó Kómma Elládas (ASKE) | 3,180 | 0.04 | +0.01 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Comma Fileleytheron | 2,658 | 0.04 | +0.01 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Organosi gia tin Anasygkrotisi tou KKE (OAKKE) | 2,099 | 0.03 | +0.01 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent candidates | 892 | 0.01 | - | 0 | - | |
Christopistia | 95 | 0.00 | ± 0.00 | 0 | ± 0 | |
total | 7,406,619 | 100.00 | 300 | |||
Valid votes | 7,406,619 | 97.80 | +0.06 | |||
Invalid / Empty Voices | 166,749 | 2.20 | −0.06 | |||
voter turnout | 7,573,368 | 76.50 | +1.53 | |||
Non-voters | 2,326,124 | 23.50 | −1.53 | |||
Registered voters | 9,899,472 | |||||
Source: Greek Ministry of the Interior |
Web links
- Greek Ministry of Interior Official Website (Greek, English)
- Greek Parliament Official Website (Greek)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official result of the 2004 parliamentary elections, Greek Ministry of the Interior (Greek, English)