Every four years Greece elects the 300 members of its Parliament. All citizens aged 17 and over can vote, and voting is formally compulsory, though no penalties are applied any more. Greeks abroad have been able to vote by post since 2024.
The electoral system
The system is proportional with a majority bonus. Only parties winning at least 3% of the national vote enter Parliament. The first party, if above 25%, receives bonus seats: 20 seats at 25%, plus one for every half point, up to a maximum of 50 seats above 40%. This makes a single-party majority possible but not guaranteed.
In 2023 Greeks voted twice: in May under pure proportional representation, which produced no majority, and in June with the bonus, which gave New Democracy an absolute majority.
The election of 25 June 2023
| Party | Votes | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| New Democracy | 40.6% | 158 |
| SYRIZA | 17.8% | 48 |
| PASOK-KINAL | 11.8% | 32 |
| KKE | 7.7% | 21 |
| Spartiates | 4.7% | 12 |
| Greek Solution | 4.4% | 12 |
| Niki | 3.7% | 10 |
| Course of Freedom | 3.2% | 8 |
During the term the SYRIZA group split several times, and since 2024 PASOK has been the main opposition party. In the June 2024 European elections New Democracy came first with about 28%, ahead of SYRIZA and PASOK.
Election history since 1974
- 1974First elections after the dictatorship: Konstantinos Karamanlis's New Democracy wins.
- 1977New Democracy keeps its majority.
- 1981Historic shift: Andreas Papandreou's PASOK wins, the first socialist government.
- 1985PASOK stays in power.
- 1989-1990Three elections in ten months; in 1990 Konstantinos Mitsotakis's New Democracy wins.
- 1993Papandreou's PASOK returns to power.
- 1996 and 2000PASOK wins twice under Kostas Simitis, who takes Greece into the euro.
- 2004 and 2007New Democracy wins under Kostas Karamanlis.
- 2009Giorgos Papandreou's PASOK wins; months later the debt crisis erupts.
- 2012Two elections: coalition government led by Antonis Samaras (New Democracy).
- 2015January and September: Alexis Tsipras's SYRIZA wins.
- 2019New Democracy returns under Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
- 2023Two votes, May and June: New Democracy wins an absolute majority of seats.
The next election
The parliamentary term ends in summer 2027. The government has said it intends to hold the election at the end of the term, in spring 2027. The landscape has changed since 2023 with new parties, including Alexis Tsipras's. This page will be updated with the results.
See also politics in Greece.