Posted by This is a summary of the Greek Parliamentary election results since 1974. It is presented in charts covering three periods. Each chart shows the percentage of the popular vote that was received by each section of the electorate.
The period 1974 – 1990 marks the formation of the post – dictatorship era.
The period 1993 – 2009 is characterized by the dominance of the New Democracy, the stronghold of the right, and PASOK, the powerhouse of the center-left.
The period 2012 – 2023 is the one where the patterns and certainties of the previous two periods have disappeared. This significant change of the political landscape has been confirmed in the elections of 21/05/2023 and 25/06/2023.
The following sections are included:
Right. New Democracy is the party that dominates the right and today covers a significant part of the center.
Center. The center party EK disappeared after the 1977 elections. Most of its supporters moved over to PASOK.
Center-Left. PASOK has been the dominant party of the center-left in Greek politics until 2009.
Left. This section includes the Communist Party of Greece, SYRIZA, and some opportunistic and marginal formations that do not have longevity.
Extreme Right. This is a section that has been revived since 2012. It includes formations to the right of the “New Democracy” party.
From 1974 to 1990
The major developments in this period are the following.
• “New Democracy”, the party founded by Konstantinos Karamanlis after the restitution of democracy in 1974, dominated the political scene in the two elections of 1974 and 1977. It lost power in the period 1981 – 1989, to retail it in the period 1989 – 1993.
• PASOK became the dominant party of the center – left and was able to challenge New Democracy, seizing power in 1981. It retained it until 1989, when it lost it.
• “Union of the Center”, the party of the “center”, received 20% in 1974, and then fell to 12% in 1977 vanishing into insignificance in the elections that followed.
• The parties of the left, including the communists, maintained a percentage around 12%.
• Apart from 1977, the extreme right did not receive a percentage above 2%.
From 1993 to 2009
The major developments in this period are the following.
- PASOK returns to power after the 1993 elections.
- Andreas Papandreou dies in the summer of 1996.
- His successor, Kostas Simitis wins the elections of 1996 and 2000.
- Kostas Karamanlis, the leader of “New Democracy”, wins the 2004 and 2007 elections.
- George Papandreou, the leader of PASOK wins the elections of 2009.
- The left struggles to reach 12%
- The extreme right climbs to 6% of the popular vote in the 2009 elections.
From 2012 to 2023
The major developments in this period are the following.
• In the first 2012 elections, the left gets more votes than the right.
• This will continue until the 2019 elections.
• In 2023 the right reverses the previous trend and gets more votes than the left.
• The extreme right becomes a significant force in Greek politics.
• PASOK shows signals of a slow recovery, but still has a long way to go.
After a spectacular rise and a stint in government (2015-2019), SYRIZA is in 2023 almost down to the level of 2012.
