2023 Greek legislative election

Legislative elections are scheduled be held in Greece by July 2023.[1] All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament will be contested.

2023 Greek legislative election
By July 2023
All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament
151 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
 
Leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis Alexis Tsipras Nikos Androulakis
Party ND Syriza PASOK
Last election 39.85%, 158 seats 31.53%, 86 seats 8.10%, 22 seats
Seats needed 65 129
 
Leader Dimitris Koutsoumpas Kyriakos Velopoulos Yanis Varoufakis
Party KKE EL MeRA25
Last election 5.30%, 15 seats 3.70%, 10 seats 3.44%, 9 seats
Seats needed 136 141 142
Map of electoral districts.
Incumbent Prime Minister

Kyriakos Mitsotakis
ND


They will be the first elections since 1990 in which the electoral system will not use a bonus seats system, after the 2016 repeal of semi-proportional representation.

Electoral system
See also: Elections in Greece, List of parliamentary constituencies of Greece, and Apportionment in the Hellenic Parliament

The electoral law in effect for the 2023 legislative election is to be the one voted in 2016 by the second last legislature, where SYRIZA held a plurality.[2] This is due to a constitutional provision on amendments to the electoral law: a two-thirds majority (200 or more votes of the Vouli) is necessary for the law to take immediate effect, and for want of such a supermajority – an electoral law comes into effect only in the second-next election.

SYRIZA's 2016 law is a switch back to simple proportional representation. It ditched the 50-seat majority bonus, such bonus having been in place in various forms since 1990.

In January 2020, soon after returning to power, New Democracy, which has always been a proponent of majority bonuses since 1974, passed a new electoral law to reinstate the bonus, albeit under a very different formula. The party list coming first would receive 20 extra seats (down from 50, with the remaining seats up from 250 to 280), with a new sliding scale disproportionally helping larger party lists: those receiving between 25% and 40% of the vote would receive one seat for every half percentage point in this range (up to 30 seats), before the proper proportional distribution begins. A winning party could receive up to 50 extra seats. This 2020 law also lacked the supermajority to take immediate effect, and as a result, will take effect only in the next election after 2023.[3]

Compulsory voting will be in force for the elections, with voter registration being automatic.[4] However, none of the legally existing penalties or sanctions have ever been enforced.[5]

Contesting parties

On 8 February 2023 Parliament voted to ban the far-right National Party – Greeks party from running in the elections. New Democracy (Greece) and PASOK voted for the ban, while the Communist Party of Greece, Greek Solution and MeRA25 voted against.[6][7]

Opinion polls
Main article: Opinion polling for the 2023 Greek legislative election
Local regression trend line of poll results from 7 July 2019 to July 2023, with each line corresponding to a political party.

References
  1. Tsipras Says Mitsotakis Will Call Early Elections Before 2023 The National Herald, 10 June 2022
  2. Law 4406–ΦΕΚ 113/2016.
  3. "Parliament votes to change election law | Kathimerini". www.ekathimerini.com. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  4. "Constitution of Greece" (PDF). Hellenic Parliament. Retrieved 5 November 2011. Article 51, Clause 5: The exercise of the right to vote is compulsory.
  5. Υποχρεωτική η ψήφος αλλά "παγωμένες" οι κυρώσεις [Voting is mandatory, but penalties "frozen"]. Eleftherotypia (in Greek). Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  6. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/party-banned-upcoming-election-greece-97000274
  7. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/greek-parliament-approves-amendment-to-exclude-far-right-party-from-elections/2812348

Works cited
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