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.
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
The latest UE election was in May 2019. For the latest figures, see the article 2019 European Parliament elections in Greece.
After the 2014 elections, there were 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).
| ← 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  |
6 / 21 |
5 | |
| New Democracy (ND) | EPP | Antonis Samaras | 1,298,713 | 22.72 | 9.57  |
5 / 21 |
3 | |
| Golden Dawn (XA) | ENF | Nikolaos Michaloliakos | 536,910 | 9.39 | 8.93 |
3 / 21 |
3 | |
| Olive Tree – Democratic Alignment (ELIA DA) | PES | Evangelos Venizelos (PASOK) | 458,403 | 8.02 | 28.62 |
2 / 21 |
6 | |
| The River (TO POTAMI) | None | Stavros Theodorakis | 377,438 | 6.60 | new | 2 / 21 |
2 | |
| Communist Party (KKE) | None | Dimitris Koutsoumpas | 349,255 | 6.11 | 2.24 |
2 / 21 |
0  | |
| Independent Greeks (ANEL) | None | Panos Kammenos | 197,701 | 3.46 | new | 1 / 21 |
1 | |
| Popular Orthodox Rally | MELD | Georgios Karatzaferis | 154,027 | 2.69 | 4.45 |
0 / 21 |
2 | |
| Greek European Citizens | None | Jorgo Chatzimarkakis | 82,350 | 1.40 | new | 0 / 21 |
0 | |
| Democratic Left | None | Fotis Kouvelis | 68,873 | 1.20 | new | 0 / 21 |
0 | |
| Union for the Fatherland and the People | None | Vyron Polydoras | 59,341 | 1.04 | new | 0 / 21 |
0 | |
| Party of Greek Hunters | None | Giorgos Tsagkanelias | 57,014 | 1.00 | 0.27 |
0 / 21 |
0 | |
| Others (parties or candidates that won less than 1% of the vote and no seats) | (103,422) | 9.76 | — | 0 / 21 |
1 | |||
| Valid votes | ||||||||
| Blank and invalid votes | ||||||||
| Totals | 100.00 | — | 21 / 21 |
1 | ||||
| Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout | 59.96 | |||||||
| Source: | ||||||||
References
- Filippa Chatzistavrou; Sofia Michalaki (May 2014). "Fragmented and Polarised: Greece Ahead of European Elections 2014". In Sonia Piedrafita; Anne Lauenroth (eds.). Between Apathy and Anger: Challenges to the Union from the 2014 Elections to the EP in Member States (PDF). EPIN Paper. 39. EPIN. p. 45.
