European Parliament elections in Greece

European Parliament elections in Greece elect the members of the European Parliament representing Greece.

Representation of Greece in the European Parliament

Greece has had a delegation of Members of the European Parliament in the European Parliament since Greek accession to the EU in 1984. Originally, the Greek delegation numbered 25, but after 2004 that was reduced to 24 (due to the increase of the EU member countries). In 2009, it was further reduced to 22, and in 2014 to 21 MEPs.

Electoral system

In the European elections, the whole country forms a single constituency and an electoral threshold is set at 3% of the vote. Members of the government and elected members of the Hellenic Parliament may only stand for election after having resigned from office.

Until 2014, the MEPs were elected every five years on the basis of a party-list proportional representation system. Just a few weeks ahead of the 2014 European Parliament election, the Greek parliament changed the regulations for European Parliament elections (Law 4255/2014). Doing away with closed lists, candidates are now elected on the basis of individual preference votes with a maximum of four preferences per voter. The number of candidates per electoral list was doubled from 21 to 42 and the maximum campaign expenses per candidate were raised to 135,000 Euro.[1]

Latest election

Presently, there are seven Greek parties represented in the European Parliament: Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), New Democracy, Golden Dawn, Elia (PASOK), To Potami, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Independent Greeks (ANEL).

 Summary of the results of Greece's 25 May 2014 election to the European Parliament
← 2009 • 2014 • 2019 →
National party European party Leader(s) Votes % +/– Seats +/–
Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) PEL Alexis Tsipras 1,518,608 26.57 21.87 Increase
6 / 21
 5 Increase
New Democracy (ND) EPP Antonis Samaras 1,298,713 22.72 9.57 Decrease
5 / 21
 3 Decrease
Golden Dawn (XA) ENF Nikolaos Michaloliakos 536,910 9.39 8.93 Increase
3 / 21
 3 Increase
Olive Tree – Democratic Alignment (ELIA DA) PES Evangelos Venizelos (PASOK) 458,403 8.02 28.62 Decrease
2 / 21
 6 Decrease
The River (TO POTAMI) None Stavros Theodorakis 377,438 6.60 new
2 / 21
 2 Increase
Communist Party (KKE) None Dimitris Koutsoumpas 349,255 6.11 2.24 Decrease
2 / 21
 0 Steady
Independent Greeks (ANEL) None Panos Kammenos 197,701 3.46 new
1 / 21
 1 Increase
Popular Orthodox Rally MELD Georgios Karatzaferis 154,027 2.69 4.45 Decrease
0 / 21
 2 Decrease
Greek European Citizens None Jorgo Chatzimarkakis 82,350 1.40 new
0 / 21
 0 Steady
Democratic Left None Fotis Kouvelis 68,873 1.20 new
0 / 21
 0 Steady
Union for the Fatherland and the People None Vyron Polydoras 59,341 1.04 new
0 / 21
 0 Steady
Party of Greek Hunters None Giorgos Tsagkanelias 57,014 1.00 0.27 Decrease
0 / 21
 0 Steady
Others (parties or candidates that won less than 1% of the vote and no seats) (103,422) 9.76 —
0 / 21
 1 Decrease
Valid votes
Blank and invalid votes
Totals ' 100.00 —
21 / 21
 1 Decrease
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 59.96
Source:

References

  1. ↑ Filippa Chatzistavrou; Sofia Michalaki (May 2014). "Fragmented and Polarised: Greece Ahead of European Elections 2014". In Sonia Piedrafita; Anne Lauenroth. Between Apathy and Anger: Challenges to the Union from the 2014 Elections to the EP in Member States. EPIN Paper 39. EPIN. p. 45.

See also