The Panhellenic Socialist Movement, known mostly by its acronym PASOK, was a social-democratic political party in Greece. Following the collapse of the Greek military dictatorship of 1967–1974, PASOK was founded on 3 September 1974 as a socialist party by Andreas Papandreou. The largest left-of-center party in Greece between 1977 and 2012, it was the dominant political party of the country from 1981 to 2004, under party founder Andreas Papandreou and Costas Simitis. After the Metapolitefsi and until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political rival.
Last elected to power in 2009, PASOK lost much of its popular support as a result of the Greek debt crisis. PASOK was the ruling party when the economic crisis began, and it negotiated the first Greek bailout package with the European troika, which necessitated harsh austerity measures. This caused a significant loss in the party's popularity. It was part of two coalition governments from 2011 to 2015, during which further austerity measures were taken in response to the crisis. Due to these measures and the crisis, PASOK went from being the largest party in the Hellenic Parliament with 160 seats (43.92% of the popular vote) in the 2009 election to being the smallest party with 13 seats (4.68% of the popular vote) in the January 2015 election. This decline became known as Pasokification.
To halt the party's decline, Fofi Gennimata was elected as the new president of the party and formed a political alliance known as the Democratic Alignment (DISY). In the September 2015 election, DISY was the fourth most voted-for party. In 2018, PASOK merged into a new political alliance of centre-left parties, again led by Gennimata, called the Movement for Change (KINAL), becoming the third largest party in the parliament in the 2019 election. After the death of Gennimata and the election of the new Party President Nikos Androulakis, PASOK (running under the new PASOK-KINAL umbrella) improved its electoral outcome, achieving a 11.84% share of the popular vote in the June 2023 election. In October 2024, Androulakis was re-elected as president of PASOK. After a decade of poor electoral outcomes, PASOK – Movement for Change has retained its position as one of the main Greek political parties, and became a unitary political party on 29 March 2026 after the merger of its component parties including PASOK and KIDISO.
Originally a broadly statist and Eurosceptic party of the newly demarginalised Greek left-wing, PASOK's politics have changed significantly. In the years following its ascension to power in the 1981 elections, it pursued a transformative social agenda of economic and social liberalisation in regards to labour rights, the political and social rift following the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), education, and individual rights. Under Papandreou, it began shifting towards pro-European Union and moderate policies, a shift that accelerated after Simitis succeeded the ailing Papandreou in 1996 and resulted in Greece completing the adoption of the euro as its currency in 2002. PASOK was often accused of populism and contributing to political polarisation, and especially after its rapid downfall, was associated with economic mismanagement, clientelism, and corruption. Many of its members crossed the floor to other parties and coalitions, mainly New Democracy and Syriza, prior to its return as the leading opposition party.
History
Foundation and Early years The first members of the party were the main organizers of the collapse of the Greek junta and the re-establishment of democracy on 3 September 1974. Its founder was Andreas Papandreou, son of the late Greek liberal leader and three-time Prime Minister of Greece Georgios Papandreou Sr, and its co-founder trade unionist Georgios Daskalakis. Its founding mottos were "National Independence, Popular Sovereignty, Social Emancipation, Democratic Process." Andreas Papandreou was offered the leadership of the liberal political forces - what evolved into Centre Union – New Forces - immediately after the restoration of democracy, but in a risky move he declined, so the leadership was assumed by Georgios Mavros. Papandreou, a powerful orator and charismatic leader, explicitly rejected the Venizelist ideological heritage of his father, and stressed the fact that he was a socialist, not a liberal.
At the November 1974 elections the Party received only 13.5% of the vote and won 15 seats (out of 300), coming third behind the centre-right New Democracy of Konstantinos Karamanlis and the Centre Union – New Forces (EK-ND) of Giorgos Mavros. That year, Sylva Akrita became the first woman elected to the Hellenic Parliament from the PASOK party in history.
In the November 1977 elections, however, PASOK eclipsed the EK-ND, winning 93 seats by doubling its share of the vote and becoming the main opposition party in Greece at the time.
First government In the October 1981 national elections PASOK won a landslide victory with 48.1% of the vote, capturing 172 seats; it forming the first socialist government in Greece since 1924. Although Papandreou had campaigned for withdrawal of Greece from NATO and the European Economic Community, after a strong request by the rest of the party members and its supporters, changed his policies towards both organizations. He proved to be an excellent negotiator when it came to securing benefits and subsidies for Greece from the EEC. For example, in 1985 he openly threatened Jacques Delors to veto the entry of Spain and Portugal in to the ECC to secure more monetary aid for Greece.Richard Clogg, Parties and Elections in Greece, 1987 In the June 1985 elections, PASOK received 46% of the vote, winning 161 seats, thus securing a stable parliamentary majority for its second term in power.
Second government It continued to be popular for much of its second term, especially in March 1987 when Andreas Papandreou successfully handled a crisis in the Aegean with Turkey. By late 1988 however, both the government's popularity and Papandreou's health had declined. The former, because of the press’ reports of financial and corruption scandals that, implicated Ministers and, allegedly, Andreas Papandreou himself as well as because of fiscal austerity measures imposed after the Keynesian policies of the first term. Under Papandreou, total government expenditure rose in 1982 by 6.8%, by 1.4% in 1983, by 5.5% in 1984, and by 11.0% in 1985. As a result of austerity measures introduced in October 1985,The World: Greek Wage Freeze to End L.A. Times Archives Sept. 6, 1987 12 AM PT however, total government expenditure fell by 4.6% in 1986, and by 1.9% in 1987.THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEK ECONOMY, 1951-1991 An Historical, Empirical, and Econometric Analysis by George A. Jouganatos, Greenwood Press, 1992, P.156 The middle of 1987, however, saw Costas Simitis (the minister who presided over the austerity program) being dismissed and the austerity policies abandoned,Greece, a country study / Federal Research Division, Library of Congress; edited by Glenn E. Curtis, 1995, P.220-221 with expansionary economic policies pursued once again.Foreign Economic Trends and Their Implications for the United States, PREPARED BY AMERICAN EMBASSY ATHENS, MAY 1990, P.5
1989 elections Despite this u-turn, PASOK lost the June 1989 elections with 40% of the vote while the opposing New Democracy received 44.3%. PASOK had changed the electoral law before the elections, making it harder for the leading party to form a majority government, so the legislature was deadlocked.
Another election in November produced a very similar result. After a brief period of a grand coalition government, in which PASOK participated, a third election in April 1990 brought New Democracy back to power. Despite a 7% lead in popular vote over PASOK, New Democracy could only secure a marginal majority in the Hellenic Parliament, electing 152 MPs out of a total of 300; PASOK had secured a larger number of representatives on a lower percentage of votes, as well as having a small overall lead, in the elections of 1985, under the previous electoral system. Its representation in the Parliament shrunk to 121 MPs in 1990. In opposition, PASOK underwent a leadership crisis when Andreas Papandreou was prosecuted over his supposed involvement in the Koskotas scandal.
Third government He was eventually acquitted and, in a dramatic twist of fate, in the October 1993 elections led the party to another landslide victory. Papandreou returned to office with 47% of the vote and his re-election was considered by many a vote of confidence of the public against his prosecution. In November 1995, however, Papandreou's health began to deteriorate and the party was racked with leadership conflicts.
Social Reforms During his time in office, Papandreou presided over a wide range of social reforms. His governments carried through sweeping reforms of social policy by introducing a welfare state,Kefala, Eleni (2007) Peripheral (post) modernity: the syncretist aesthetics of Borges, Piglia, Kalokyris and Kyriakidis. Peter Lang. significantly expanding welfare measures,Sassoon, Donald (1997) Looking left: European socialism after the Cold War. I.B. Taurus. expanding health care coverage (the "National Health System" was instituted, which made modern medical procedures available in rural areas for the first time,) promoting state-subsidized tourism (social tourism) for lower-income families, and index-linking pensions.Gunther, Richard; Diamandouros, Nikiforos P. and Sōtēropoulos, Dēmētrēs A. (2007) Democracy and the state in the new Southern Europe. Oxford University Press.