Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 6 May 2012 to elect all 300 members to the Hellenic Parliament. It was scheduled to be held in late 2013, four years after the previous election; however, an early election was stipulated in the coalition agreement of November 2011 which formed the Papademos Cabinet. The coalition comprised both of Greece's traditional major political parties, PASOK on the left and New Democracy (ND) on the right, as well as the right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The aim of the coalition was to relieve the Greek government-debt crisis by ratifying and implementing decisions taken with other Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a month earlier.
The elections delivered massive losses for the parties of the outgoing government, resulting in a realignment of Greek politics. PASOK, who won the 2009 election in a relative landslide, won just 13% of the overall vote, a decline of almost three-quarters. ND emerged in first place with just 19% of votes, approximately half of its previous result. LAOS lost all of its seats. Syriza, previously a minor party on the left-wing, ran on an anti-austerity platform and outpolled PASOK with 17% of the vote. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) improved its performance to 8.5%. Three new parties entered Parliament in the election – the right-wing populist Independent Greeks (ANEL) won 11%, the far-right Golden Dawn (XA) 7%, and the Democratic Left (DIMAR) 6%.
New Democracy won a substantial plurality of 108 seats thanks to Greece's majority bonus, but ND and PASOK were the only pro-bailout parties present and now lacked a majority between them. Conversely, the anti-bailout parties were deeply divided between left and right. ND leader Antonis Samaras, Syriza's Alexis Tsipras, and PASOK's Evangelos Venizelos all tried and failed to put together governments in the days following the election. On 16 May, President Karolos Papoulias appointed Panayiotis Pikrammenos as caretaker Prime Minister and scheduled a new general election for 17 June.
Background
The Euro area crisis and the Greek government-debt crisis, in particular, have led to an escalated political crisis. There was an announcement by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that a referendum would take place to determine whether Greece would accept the next bailout deal with the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB). However such a referendum never took place. The parties of the opposition and politicians from within the ruling PASOK subsequently demanded early elections.
At the same time, protests and strikes in Greece have been commonplace, with some turning violent. Social unrest in the country is the result of a series of austerity packages passed by the Greek parliament since 2010.
On 4 November 2011 there was a vote of confidence in Parliament, narrowly won by the government of George Papandreou by a vote of 153 to 145 in the 300-seat body. Although a number of PASOK MPs said they would not support the government in the vote of confidence, all 152 eventually did support the government after PASOK's leader Papandreou agreed to step down as Prime Minister in order for a government of national unity to take over. Following the vote of confidence one previously expelled PASOK member was re-admitted to the party, raising the Papandreou majority to 153 seats. Despite the narrow victory, Papandreou eventually resigned a few days later, making way for a three-party "grand coalition" caretaker government under Lucas Papademos, a former ECB vice president, with the support of PASOK, ND and LAOS. However, LAOS later resigned over further austerity measures.
Procedure Voting is mandatory; however none of the legally existing penalties or sanctions have ever been enforced. 250 seats were distributed on the basis of proportional representation, with a threshold of 3% required for entry into parliament. The other 50 seats were awarded to the party or coalition that wins a plurality of votes, according to the election law. Parliamentary majority is achieved by a party or coalition of parties that command at least one half plus one (151 out of 300) of total seats. Blank and invalid votes, as well as votes cast for parties that fall short of the 3% threshold, are disregarded for seat allocation purposes.
Date In a speech to parliament on 4 November, Evangelos Venizelos said that the caretaker government would last until February. In late December 2011, it was decided that the election would be pushed back to late April,Greek elections delayed until April EuropeanVoice, 28 December 2011 in order to allow the technocrat government to pass austerity measures.
Incumbent parliament Five parties were elected at the 2009 election, but during the course of the parliament changes in party memberships (mostly due to the February 2012 expulsions from the main two parties of representatives who would not vote for the loan agreement), resulted in representation for a further two official parties (parties with more than 10 MPs) and two parliamentary caucuses (i.e. smaller parties). An additional 18 members sat as independents. Leaders of official parties enjoy certain privileges that permit them equal footing to one another and to the prime minister, both in parliamentary procedure and in pre-election debating; such privileges are not extended to caucuses and independents.
Distribution of seats in parliament 2009 election April 2012 Official parties PASOK 160 129 New Democracy (ND) 91 72 Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 21 21 Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) 15 16 Syriza 13 11 Independent Greeks (ANEL) 0 10 Democratic Left (DIMAR) 0 10 Parliamentary caucuses and independents Social Agreement (KOISY) 0 8 Democratic Alliance (DISY) 0 4 Independents 0 19
Participating parties A total of 31 parties participated in the election:
PASOK, Evangelos Venizelos New Democracy (ND), Antonis Samaras Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Aleka Papariga Coalition of the Radical Left – Unitary Social Movement (SYRIZA), Alexis Tsipras Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), Georgios Karatzaferis Democratic Alliance (DISY), Dora Bakoyannis Social Agreement (KOISY), Louka Katseli Independent Greeks (ANEL), Panos Kammenos Democratic Left (DIMAR), Fotis Kouvelis Action – Liberal Alliance (DRASI-FS), Stefanos Manos and Grigoris Vallianatos Ecologists Greens (OP), six-member committee Union of Centrists (EK), Vassilis Leventis Liberal party (LIBERTAS), Manolis Kaligiannis Golden Dawn (XA), Nikolaos Michaloliakos No: The coalition of Democratic Revival and United Popular Front (EPAM), Stelios Papathemelis and 3-member committee I Don't Pay Movement, Vasilis Papadopoulos Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist) / Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Greece (KKE(M–L) / ML KKE), four-member committee Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left (ANTARSYA), 21-member committee Organisation of Communist Internationalists of Greece (OKDE), 3-member committee Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK), Savas Matsas Organisation for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece (OAKKE), 3-member committee National Unity Association (SEE), Nikos Alikakos Society – Political Party of the Successors of Kapodistrias, Michail Iliadis Pirate Party of Greece (KPE), Ioannis Panagopoulos Recreate Greece (DX), Panathinaikos Movement (PANKI), Yiorgos Betsikas Dignity, alliance of independent candidates, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos Greek Ecologists, Dimosthenis Vergis (sole candidate) National Resistance Movement (KEAN), (sole candidate) Renewing Independent Left, Renewing Right, Renewing Pasok, Renewing New Democracy, No to War, Party of Action, I Give Away Land, I Pardon Debts, I Save Lives, Panagrarian Labour Movement of Greece (PAEKE), Miltiadis Tzalazidis (sole perennial candidate) Regional Urban Development (PAA), Nikos Kolitsis (sole candidate)
Four other parties were banned by the Supreme Court of Greece: National Hope, PAME in GESEEP, the Friends of Man and Citizens Assembly–(Direct) Democracy in Practice. National Hope was prohibited under the electoral law from participating as it is a monarchist party. The court also banned the one-man party Tyrannicides from contesting the election under that name, on the grounds that the title "demonstrated criminal intent." The party's Athanasios Daskalopoulos was however allowed to run in the election as independent candidate, on equal terms with the 51 other approved independent candidates.
On 18 March, PASOK held a leadership election in which Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was the sole candidate.
In order to provide voters with a quick unbiased tool, to check into what degree the voters personal answer in a political survey compared with the answers by the political parties, a joint academic non-profit group of researchers from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and four other International universities, developed this free to use internet application Choose4Greece.
Campaign
Among the 12 biggest political parties in the opinion polls, the parties that would continue the austerity programme were PASOK, New Democracy, DISY (Democratic Alliance) and DRASI (Liberal Alliance).
There was also criticism of the German-led austerity programmes. Golden Dawn's campaign also called for the placement of land mines on the border with Turkey, the revocation of eurozone loan agreements, nationalisation of banks that received state loans and the nationalisation of natural resources. It was also said to have gained support by organising patrols in high-crime neighbourhoods (a similar tactic to Jobbik, who gained entry into the Hungarian parliament for the first time). In turn PASOK and New Democracy also ratcheted up rhetoric against illegal immigration, while New Democracy feared further loss of votes to opponents of the austerity measures. LAOS, in turn, called for immigrants to be sent to uninhabited islands.
KKE leader Aleka Papariga said that Greece should leave both the eurozone and the EU. ND's Antonis Samaras doubted the ability to create a "grand coalition" with PASOK. The Ecogreens' Yiannis Paraskevopoulos said the prime issue for them was the economy and the direction of the country. Independent Greeks' Panos Kammenos said that Germany was too dominant and criticised the austerity measures he said were dictated to Greece. SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras said that he was open to working with Independent Greeks or anyone who supported a left-wing government. LAOS's Georgios Karatzaferis, who left the interim government midway through its "mandate," criticised ND and PASOK for their "betrayal," saying that "they depend their political survival on foreign power centres by accepting English law for [Greece's] bonds. This land is governed by ," while he justified his initial decision to join the interim government by saying: "I am not the first choice of the Americans and the troika. It's only natural for me to be put under pressure." He also criticised a new initiative against illegal immigration as lax, in what was read as a move to gain back credibility from Golden Dawn.
Controversy At a campaign rally in the Athenian suburb of Maroussi on 21 April, PASOK's Evangelos Venizelos said that "parliament cannot become a reception space for the followers of Nazism and fascism." In response, some Golden Dawn supporters were reported to have thrown bottles and other objects at him.
Other events