General election in Greece 2009

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Result (in%)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

43.92

33.48

7.54

5.63

4.60

2.53

2.30

PASOK

ND

KKE

LAOS

SYRIZA ^e

Green

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 2007

 % p

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

+5.82

-8.36

-0.61

+1.83

-0.44

+1.48

+0.28

PASOK

ND

KKE

LAOS

SYRIZA ^e

Green

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^e Electoral alliance of several left-wing parties.

Distribution of seats

     

A total of 300 seats

• KKE : 21
• SYRIZA : 13
• PASOK : 160
• ND : 91
• LAOS : Jan.

The 2009 parliamentary elections in Greece took place on October 4th, 2009. It brought the previously opposition PASOK under Giorgos A. Papandreou an absolute majority in parliament and led to the replacement of the government that had been in power since 2004 under the previous Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis ( Nea Dimokratia ).

prehistory

On September 2, 2009, Prime Minister Karamanlis announced that he had asked the President ( Karolos Papoulias ) to dissolve parliament and that early elections should take place on October 4, 2009. The next election would have been due in September 2011. However, Karamanlis had come under great pressure due to a number of scandals and the country's threatening debt.

Electoral system

300 MPs were elected for a term of four years. A three percent threshold was applied to the approved parties . Voting was based on a modified proportional representation : 260 seats were distributed according to the proportion of votes; the strongest party received 40 additional seats.

Parties

→ Main article : List of political parties in Greece

23 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		Alexis Tsipras
		Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos (LAOS) Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός (ΛΑΟΣ) Ethnic Orthodox alarm	nationalist		Georgios Karatzaferis

Election result

Winners by prefectures

Nea Dimokratia

Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima

In the parliamentary elections on October 4, opposition leader Giorgos Papandreou won well ahead of the incumbent Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. Karamanlis announced his resignation as party leader of the Nea Dimokratia while the votes were being counted.

9,929,065 citizens were entitled to vote. The turnout was 70.95 percent (there was compulsory voting for all citizens between 18 and 70 years of age); Violations of compulsory voting were not punished.

Result of the parliamentary elections in Greece in 2009

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima (PASOK)	3,012,542	43.92	+5.82	160	+58
	New Democracy (ND)	2,295,719	33.48	−8.35	91	−61
	Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (KKE)	517.249	7.54	−0.61	21st	−1
	Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos (LAOS)	386.205	5.63	+1.83	15th	+5
	Synaspismos tis Rizospastikis Aristeras (SYRIZA)	315,665	4.60	−0.44	13	−1
	Ikologi Prasini	173,589	2.53	+1.48	0	± 0
	Dimokratiki Anagenissi	30,784	0.45	−0.35	0	± 0
	Antikapitalistiki Aristeri Synergasia gia tin Anatropi (ANTARSYA)	24,687	0.36	New	0	New
	Ellines Ikologi	19,993	0.29	+0.27	0	± 0
	Chrysi Avgi (XA)	19,624	0.29	-	0	-
	Enosi Kentroon (EK)	18,296	0.27	−0.02	0	± 0
	Koinonia Politiki Parataxi Synechiston Tou Kapodistria	10,690	0.16	New	0	New
	Kommunistiko Komma Elladas (marxistiko-leninistiko) (KKE (ml))	10,480	0.15	−0.10	0	± 0
	Dimokratikoi	7,600	0.11	New	0	New
	Marxistiko-Leninistiko Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (ML KKE)	5,219	0.08	−0.03	0	± 0
	Ergatiko Epanastatiko Comma (EEK)	4,537	0.07	-	0	-
	Organosi gia tin Anasygkrotisi tou KKE (OAKKE)	1,665	0.02	−0.01	0	± 0
	PAEKE	1,375	0.02	New	0	New
	Kapnistikes Omades Gia Tin Techni Kai Tin Eikastiki Sygkrotisi (KOTES)	1,355	0.02	New	0	New
	Fos. Alitheia. Dikaiosyni.	871	0.01	± 0.00	0	± 0
	Independent candidates	265	0.00	± 0.00	0	± 0
	Filoi Tou Anthropou	4th	0.00	New	0	New
	Perif. Astiki Anaptyxi (PAA)	4th	0.00	± 0.00	0	± 0
	Palaia Dimokratia	3	0.00	New	0	New
total		6,858,421	100.00		300
Valid votes		6,858,421	97.36	+0.03
Invalid votes		142.916	2.03	+0.01
Blank ballot papers		43,269	0.61	−0.03
voter turnout		7,044,606	70.95	−3.20
Non-voters		2,884,459	29.05	+3.20
Registered voters		9,929,065
Source: Greek Ministry of the Interior

Distribution of seats

With around 44 percent (compared to 38% in the 2007 election ) of the votes - thanks to the 40-seat bonus for the most elected party - PASOK received an absolute majority of the seats in parliament (160 out of 300 seats).

The conservative Nea Dimokratia achieved 91 seats with around 33.5 percent (2007: 41.8%). Of these, it later lost five seats in November 2010 when the Dimokratiki Symmachia split off .

The Communist Party of Greece with 7.5 percent (21 seats), the " Orthodox People's Meeting (LAOS) " with 5.6 percent (15 seats) and the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) with 4.6 percent were also elected to parliament (13 seats).

The Greek Greens failed with around 2.5 percent of the three percent hurdle.

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Official result of the 2009 parliamentary elections Greek Ministry of the Interior (Greek, English)
2. ↑ Greece's PM calls snap election , BBC.com. September 2, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2009.