2007 Greek parliamentary election

none Greece parliamentary 2004 Greek parliamentary election 2004 2009 Greek parliamentary election 2009 All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 151 16 September 2007 130x130px Kostas Karamanlis 2007-10-18.jpg Kostas Karamanlis New Democracy (Greece) 45.36%, 165 seats 152 13 2,994,979 41.84% 3.52pp George Papandreou (junior).jpg George Papandreou PASOK 40.55%, 117 seats 102 15 2,727,279 38.10% 2.45pp Aleka Papariga 2009 (cropped).jpg Aleka Papariga Communist Party of Greece 5.90%, 12 seats 22 10 583,815 8.15% 2.25pp Alekos Alavanos cropped.jpg Alekos Alavanos Syriza 3.26%, 6 seats 14 8 361,211 5.04% 1.77pp GeorgiosKaratzaferis.jpg Georgios Karatzaferis Popular Orthodox Rally 2.19%, 0 seats 10 10 271,764 3.80% 1.61pp 2007 Greek Legislative Election Map.svg Results by constituency 350px Prime Minister Prime Minister after election Kostas Karamanlis New Democracy (Greece) Kostas Karamanlis New Democracy (Greece) Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 16 September 2007 to elect the 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament. The leading party for a second term was New Democracy under the leadership of Kostas Karamanlis with 42%, followed by George Papandreou and PASOK with 38%. New Democracy managed to secure an absolute but narrow majority of 152 out of 300 seats in parliament. The populist Popular Orthodox Rally entered the parliament for the first time with 10 seats, while the parties of the left, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Syriza, enjoyed a significant increase in their vote share. KKE received 8% of the votes (up from 6%) and won 22 seats (from 12), while Syriza received 5% of the votes (up 2 pp) and 14 seats. The difference of nearly four percentage points between the first two parties resulted in George Papandreou announcing that he would seek reaffirmation of his party leadership, with Evangelos Venizelos and Kostas Skandalidis also declaring candidacy for the post.2007-11-11 Καθαρή νίκη Παπανδρέου στις εκλογές για την προεδρία του ΠΑΣΟΚ https://www.in.gr/2007/11/11/greece/kathari-niki-g-papandreoy-stis-ekloges-gia-tin-proedria-toy-pasok/ 2022-10-13 in.gr el Background August 22, 2007: The Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI) (6th largest party in the previous elections) announced its electoral alliance with the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA).http://www.dikki.org/Article.asp?W=1&ID=201 22/8/2007 DIKKI press release 2007-09-11 2008-01-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20080122023805/http://www.dikki.org/Article.asp?W=1&ID=201 dead August 29, 2007: Opinion pollers MRB came under criticism from PASOK. Mathematical inconsistencies were alleged, such as response tallies summing up to more than 100%. MRB denied the allegations. MRB's parent company, Spot-Thompson Greece, are New Democracy's advertisers.September 2007 August 30, 2007: MRB came under more fire as it cancelled publication of its regular biannual "Trends" survey, citing extreme difficulty in obtaining accurate information in the fire-stricken areas. Critics said that this admission automatically rendered previous voting behavior MRB estimates from these areas unreliable;September 2007 yet, the election results in the prefectures which were devastated by the fires (Ilia, Euboea and Arcadia), were marked by a loss in votes for both the main opposition party and the ruling party. September 1, 2007: The Areios Pagos refused to certify Fofi Gennimata as a candidate for the PASOK nationwide list, citing non-eligibility because Mrs. Gennimata is elected the superprefect of Athens and Piraeus. This was criticised angrily by PASOK as an attempt to politicise the courts.3/9/2007 article by Phileleftheros September 2, 2007: The Areios Pagos: refused to include the title of DIKKI in the electoral alliance of SYRIZA claiming that the internal procedures followed by DIKKI were flawed. This was criticised furiously by SYRIZA and DIKKI as inappropriate interference in party political activity on behalf of the courts.http://www.dikki.org/Article.asp?W=1&ID=207 2/9/2007 DIKKI press release 2007-09-11 2007-09-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20070920131710/http://www.dikki.org/Article.asp?W=1&ID=207 dead refused to allow the New Fascism (el Νέος Φασισμός) party contest the election because of its provocative name."Σε ποιους «έδειξε πόρτα» ο Αρειος Πάγος" https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230108/http://www.e-tipos.com/newsitem?id=8577 2007-09-27 , in Eleftheros Typos, 3 September 2007 refused to allow the New Salvation Party – Christian Democracy to use the Cross as its logo on the grounds that it is a religious symbol. excluded seven other parties from the elections for failure to pay the required electoral deposit. September 6, 2007: NET state television, in simulcast with the major private TV stations, broadcast the debate among the leaders of ND, PASOK, Communist Party of Greece (KKE), SYRIZA, Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), and Democratic Revival, who were questioned by six reporters in six rounds of questions and follow-ups. Questions and responses were rotated and timed. The debate lasted approximately 2.5 hours and concluded with a two-minute speech by each leader. The debate format, agreed beforehand by the participating parties, met with criticism for being too rigid and formal, too protective of the politicians and not conducive to exhaustive scrutiny of their policies.September 2007 Electoral system There were concerns that the election could return a hung parliament, mainly due to the recently revised Greek electoral law. Although it preserved the 3% threshold necessary for a party to enter parliament, it decreased the number of seats automatically awarded to the leading party. Parliamentary majority was considered more difficult, especially after the early projection that five parties would cross this threshold for the first time after the metapolitefsi. According to the electoral law, the first-past-the post party was automatically awarded a bonus of 40 parliamentary seats. The remaining 260 seats were divided among all parties that achieved a minimum 3% nationwide vote tally, strictly in proportion to their polling returns. Since a majority of 151 seats was required, the leading party should secure at least 111 seats (42.7% of 260) in order to be able to form a government. Karamanlis had stated that in the event that no party should manage to achieve a majority, he would seek a new election.New general elections to be called if ruling party fails to secure majority in parliament: Greek PM Papandreou had vaguely indicated that he may have pursued an alliance with the left, however the SYRIZA and KKE parties had categorically dismissed any possibility of participating in a coalition with any of the major parties. No opinion polls were allowed to be published after September 1. The polls publicized prior to the election had concluded that: The next Parliament would be a five-party Parliament. New Democracy would hold a smaller lead over PASOK at around 2%. The goal of a workable parliamentary majority hung in the brink, with some pollsters projecting 147–149 and some 151–153 seats for the leading party. The law traditionally requires that voting begins at "sunrise" and ends at "sunset". In practice this is rounded up to the nearest top of the hour. Voting began at 7 am and concluded at 7 pm. 7 pm was also the time when media outlets publicized their exit polls and issued their predictions. According to SingularLogic, the information technology contractor of the Ministry of the Interior, initial returns would not reach statistical significance before 11 pm and firm estimates might not emerge until after midnight. Voting took place in 20,623 polling stations – mostly schools – throughout the country, each of which catered to 400–500 voters on average. Opinion polls Opinion polling for the 2007 Greek parliamentary election A collection of opinion polls taken before the elections is listed below. According to a law, which was voted by the Greek parliament, publication of opinion polls is forbidden in the fortnight prior to the election date. Therefore, the last day when opinion polls were published was September 1, 2007, and practically all opinion polling firms published their final public reports on August 31, 2007, in time for the evening news. PollsterDate publishedNDPASOKKKESyrizaMost of the earlier polls refer to Synaspismos, part of the Syriza coalition.LAOSOther NoneUnsurePublic Issue/VPRC14 January 200743.039.07.54.03.53.0GPO15 January 200735.933.77.34.14.40.74.49.3Kapa Research10 February 200737.535.97.43.63.212.4Public Issue/VPRC11 February 200743.039.57.54.03.52.5RASS25 February 200736.733.95.82.82.718.1Public Issue/VPRC11 March 200743.039.57.04.53.52.5Metron Analysis22 March 200737.135.97.03.13.613.3ALCO30 March 200733.933.45.52.82.222.2Kapa Research30 March 200736.935.97.03.43.912.9GPO2 April 200736.034.27.04.04.50.93.99.5Public Issue/VPRC13 April 200742.539.07.04.54.03.0MRB27 April 200735.933.56.74.13.716.1Public Issue/VPRC13 May 200742.539.56.55.03.53.0MRB24 May 200735.733.76.34.44.715.2Metron Analysis2 June 200733.432.06.83.64.419.8Public Issue/VPRC8 June 200743.039.07.04.54.02.5GPO4 June 200735.534.57.14.44.92.33.38.0ALCO15 June 200734.234.06.32.93.51.62.514.7MRB15 June 200736.334.07.04.43.714.6Metron Analysis21 June 200736.835.86.43.83.813.4Kapa Research30 June 200736.135.17.64.34.20.612.1Public Issue/VPRC16 July 200742.538.57.54.53.53.5GPO22 August 200736.234.67.14.24.65.87.5Metron Analysis22 August 200731.029.57.04.33.52.56.815.4MRB23 August 200736.834.86.84.54.01.32.89.0Kapa Research26 August 200734.933.67.24.94.11,613.7ALCO27 August 200735.034.26.53.43.60.84.111.8MRB28 August 200735.233.27.34.43.92.24.36.7Metron Analysis29 August 200729.728.18.14.73.62.610.517.4GPO29 August 200736.034.87.04.54.92.110.7ALCO29 August 200731.630.96.23.43.31.88.715.9Public Issue/VPRC (vote projection)Public Issue/VPRC noted that their report was a prediction based on the time-series of opinion polls they had conducted.31 August 200742.038.08.55.04.02.5MRB31 August 200735.433.37.54.73.7GPO31 August 200737.436.07.64.24.7ALCO31 August 200731.530.86.53.73.6 Exit polls The Greek media outlets issued their exit polls at 19:00 local time.Exit poll results from in.grExit poll results https://web.archive.org/web/20070929105117/http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=5347&subid=2&pubid=132809 2007-09-29 from the Ethnos daily newspaper Media outletPolling FirmNDPASOKKKESYRIZALAOSOthers/blank/invalidERTRass42.2%38.5%7.5%5.0%3.5%3.3%ANT1Revised exit poll presented at 20:30Metron Analysis40.4–42.8%36.8–39.2%7.4–8.8%4.8–6.0%3.2–4.2%2.8–3.6%AlphaMRB40.8–42.8%37.5–39.5%7.5–8.5%4.5–6.0%3.5–4.5%2.0–3.5%AlterALCO40.6–42.6%37.8–39.8%6.4- 8%4.6–5.8%3.5–4.5%2–3.5%MegaGPO41–43%37.5–39.5%7.5–9%4.5–6%3.5-4%2.5-3%SkaiV-PRC41–43%36–38%7.5–9.5%5–6%3.5–4.5%2.5–3.5%StarKapa Research41.9%38.4%7.7%5.3%4.0%2.7%Average:41.9%38.2%7.9%5.3%3.8%3.0%MegaStatistical projection based on official returns, presented at 21:30 local time – claimed margin of error: 0.2%GPO42.0%153 seats37.8%101 seats8.2%22 seats5.0%13 seats4.0%11 seats3.0%- Results File:Greek legislative election 2007.svg New Democracy 2994979 152 –13 PASOK 2727279 102 –15 Communist Party of Greece 583750 22 +10 Syriza 361101 14 +8 Popular Orthodox Rally 271809 10 +10 Ecologist Greens 75502 0 New Democratic Revival 57167 0 New Union of Centrists 20840 0 0 Communist Party of Greece (Marxist–Leninist) 17555 0 0 Radical Left Front 11843 0 0 United Anti-Capitalist Left 10604 0 0 Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Greece 8137 0 0 Liberal Alliance 7498 0 New Liberal Party 3099 0 0 Organization for the Reconstruction of the KKE 2473 0 0 Fighting Socialist Party of Greece 2109 0 0 Greek Ecologists 1740 0 New Light – Truth – Justice 970 0 New Democratic Universal Hellas 10 0 New Regional Urban Development 5 0 New Independents 536 0 0 0 196020 9918917 Ministry of the Interior By region RegionND(%)PASOK(%)KKE(%)SYRIZA(%)LAOS(%)Achaea36.8645.977.164.912.47 Aetolia-Akarnania43.5643.706.252.861.99 Argolida48.9037.444.833.533.14 Arkadia46.6538.675.364.033.15 Arta47.3438.716.693.941.60 Athens A40.1629.9610.529.275.39 Athens B35.2734.0512.118.945.04Attica39.2536.279.245.805.82 Boeotia40.9840.457.924.403.54Cephalonia39.2937.1513.153.893.12 Chalkidiki46.3738.115.433.813.42 Chania38.4744.716.254.972.56Chios43.8241.725.904.491.70Corfu40.0636.4414.894.042.08Corinthia43.5541.514.374.183.58 Dodecanese41.6846.734.203.042.84Drama48.7437.264.413.184.03Elis42.0546.544.703.021.99 Euboea40.6142.027.224.283.35Evros48.0539.764.332.273.39 Evrytania44.6145.643.352.402.22Florina48.1739.265.282.892.55Grevena45.4839.727.552.482.63Imathia42.8339.047.583.154.64 Ioannina43.3838.787.994.692.42Heraklion33.5454.634.404.351.33Karditsa48.0237.817.412.862.14Kastoria54.3232.444.093.753.32Kavala45.2639.436.263.473.27 Kilkis46.8736.997.272.374.33Kozani46.6639.785.643.002.12Laconia55.5131.634.853.053.17Larissa43.4636.8210.063.853.53Lasithi36.7052.713.494.191.09Lefkada42.5237.5910.745.171.64Lemnos39.4237.6813.993.972.48Magnesia43.3236.399.364.313.63Messenia52.2932.166.184.632.82Naxos45.5037.875.585.312.77Pella47.3539.314.592.324.26 Phocis47.9934.687.033.773.70Phthiotis49.5836.675.223.223.40Pieria48.5937.665.352.763.63Piraeus A42.3432.578.956.765.24 Piraeus B31.4037.9314.556.415.52 Preveza45.9838.887.663.831.78Rethymno46.5043.843.393.591.12Rhodope45.7545.902.861.941.57Samos37.9932.5418.135.212.62Serres52.8233.105.012.933.96Thesprotia45.8642.494.393.112.12 Thessaloniki A37.3834.6310.316.126.22Thessaloniki B44.8233.778.144.145.35Trikala45.6839.278.492.752.03 Xanthi39.9748.903.532.512.76Zakynthos38.1042.3410.514.392.18 Aftermath At 01:00 on 17 September 2007 PASOK leader George Papandreou conceded defeat and Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis thanked the electorate for granting him and his party a renewed term in office. Papandreou also stated that he will seek his party's direct reaffirmation in his leadership, and Evangelos Venizelos, PASOK's informal #2, declared himself "present" in this process. Papandreou went on and retained his leadership.Antenna news https://web.archive.org/web/20080226071525/http://news.antenna.gr/articleDetail/0,3091,165675,00.html 2008-02-26 , Θέμα ηγεσίας στο ΠΑΣΟΚ (leadership issue in PASOK), Retrieved 2007-09-17. See also List of members of the Hellenic Parliament, 2007–2009 Notes References Further reading Dinas, Elias (2008) 'Greek general election of 2007: you cannot lose if your opponent cannot win,' West European Politics 31: 600–607. Gemenis, Kostas (2008) 'The 2007 Parliamentary Election in Greece,' Mediterranean Politics 13: 95–101. Gemenis, Kostas (2009) 'A Green comeback in Greece? The Ecologist Greens in the 2007 parliamentary electionApril 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes ,' Environmental Politics 18: 128–134. Karamichas, John (2007) 'The impact of the summer 2007 forest fires in Greece: recent environmental mobilizations, cyber-activism and electoral performance,' South European Society and Politics 12: 521–33. 10.1016/j.electstud.2007.12.004 The Greek parliamentary election of 2007 Electoral Studies 27 2 356–359 2008 Patrikios Stratos Karyotis Georgios External links Ta Nea/Athens News election website https://web.archive.org/web/20090423134325/http://national07.ekloges.dolnet.gr/index.php?lang=en 2009-04-23 en Category:Parliamentary elections in Greece Category:2007 in Greek politics Parliamentary Greece Greece Category:September 2007 elections