Greek legislative election, 2007

Greek legislative election, 2007
Greece
16 September 2007

All 300 seats to the Hellenic Parliament
151 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Kostas Karamanlis George Papandreou Aleka Papariga
Party ND PASOK KKE
Leader since 21 March 1997 8 February 2004 1991
Last election 165 seats, 45.4% 117 seats, 40.5% 12 seats, 5.9%
Seats won 152 102 22
Seat change Decrease13 Decrease15 Increase10
Popular vote 2,995,479 2,727,853 583,815
Percentage 41.83% 38.1% 8.15%
Swing -3.57% -2.4% +2.25%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Alekos Alavanos Georgios Karatzaferis
Party SYRIZA LAOS
Leader since 2004 14 September 2000
Last election 6 seats, 3.3% 0 seats, 2.2%
Seats won 14 10
Seat change Increase8 Increase10
Popular vote 361,211 271,764
Percentage 5.04% 3.80%
Swing +1.78% +1.61

Prime Minister before election

Kostas Karamanlis
ND

Subsequent Prime Minister

Kostas Karamanlis
ND

Greek Parliamentary election, 2007

Distribution of parliament seats after the 2007 elections (Results).
  New Democracy: 152 seats
  Popular Orthodox Rally: 10 seats
Date September 16, 2007
Previous prime minister Kostas Karamanlis
Next prime minister Kostas Karamanlis (holding position)
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Greece

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, September 16, 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 41.83%, followed by George Papandreou and Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) with 38.10%. New Democracy managed to secure an absolute but narrow majority of 152 out of 300 parliament seats. 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 the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), enjoyed a significant increase in their votes. KKE got 8.15% of the votes (from 5.89) and secured 22 parliament seats (from 12) and SYRIZA got 5.04% of the votes (+1.78%) 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.

Procedure

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.[1] 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 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, January–August 2007

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.

Polling Firm Date Published ND PASOK KKE SYRIZA
[2]
LAOS Other None Unsure
Public Issue/VPRC 14 January 2007 43.0 39.0 7.5 4.0 3.5 3.0
GPO 15 January 2007 35.9 33.7 7.3 4.1 4.4 0.7 4.4 9.3
Kapa Research 10 February 2007 37.5 35.9 7.4 3.6 3.2 12.4
Public Issue/VPRC 11 February 2007 43.0 39.5 7.5 4.0 3.5 2.5
RASS 25 February 2007 36.7 33.9 5.8 2.8 2.7 18.1
Public Issue/VPRC 11 March 2007 43.0 39.5 7.0 4.5 3.5 2.5
Metron Analysis 22 March 2007 37.1 35.9 7.0 3.1 3.6 13.3
ALCO 30 March 2007 33.9 33.4 5.5 2.8 2.2 22.2
Kapa Research 30 March 2007 36.9 35.9 7.0 3.4 3.9 12.9
GPO 2 April 2007 36.0 34.2 7.0 4.0 4.5 0.9 3.9 9.5
Public Issue/VPRC 13 April 2007 42.5 39.0 7.0 4.5 4.0 3.0
MRB 27 April 2007 35.9 33.5 6.7 4.1 3.7 16.1
Public Issue/VPRC 13 May 2007 42.5 39.5 6.5 5.0 3.5 3.0
MRB 24 May 2007 35.7 33.7 6.3 4.4 4.7 15.2
Metron Analysis 2 June 2007 33.4 32.0 6.8 3.6 4.4 19.8
Public Issue/VPRC 8 June 2007 43.0 39.0 7.0 4.5 4.0 2.5
GPO 4 June 2007 35.5 34.5 7.1 4.4 4.9 2.3 3.3 8.0
ALCO 15 June 2007 34.2 34.0 6.3 2.9 3.5 1.6 2.5 14.7
MRB 15 June 2007 36.3 34.0 7.0 4.4 3.7 14.6
Metron Analysis 21 June 2007 36.8 35.8 6.4 3.8 3.8 13.4
Kapa Research 30 June 2007 36.1 35.1 7.6 4.3 4.2 0.6 12.1
Public Issue/VPRC 16 July 2007 42.5 38.5 7.5 4.5 3.5 3.5
GPO 22 August 2007 36.2 34.6 7.1 4.2 4.6 5.8 7.5
Metron Analysis 22 August 2007 31.0 29.5 7.0 4.3 3.5 2.5 6.8 15.4
MRB 23 August 2007 36.8 34.8 6.8 4.5 4.0 1.3 2.8 9.0
Kapa Research 26 August 2007 34.9 33.6 7.2 4.9 4.1 1,6 13.7
ALCO 27 August 2007 35.0 34.2 6.5 3.4 3.6 0.8 4.1 11.8
MRB 28 August 2007 35.2 33.2 7.3 4.4 3.9 2.2 4.3 6.7
Metron Analysis 29 August 2007 29.7 28.1 8.1 4.7 3.6 2.6 10.5 17.4
GPO 29 August 2007 36.0 34.8 7.0 4.5 4.9 2.1 10.7
ALCO 29 August 2007 31.6 30.9 6.2 3.4 3.3 1.8 8.7 15.9
Public Issue/VPRC (vote projection)* 31 August 2007 42.0 38.0 8.5 5.0 4.0 2.5
MRB 31 August 2007 35.4 33.3 7.5 4.7 3.7
GPO 31 August 2007 37.4 36.0 7.6 4.2 4.7
ALCO 31 August 2007 31.5 30.8 6.5 3.7 3.6

Events before the election

Exit polls

The Greek media outlets issued their exit polls at 19:00 local time.[7][8]

Media outlet Polling Firm ND PASOK KKE SYRIZA LAOS Others/
blank/
invalid
ΕRΤ Rass 42.2% 38.5% 7.5% 5.0% 3.5% 3.3%
ANT11 Metron Analysis 40.4-42.8% 36.8-39.2% 7.4-8.8% 4.8-6.0% 3.2-4.2% 2.8-3.6%
Alpha MRB 40.8-42.8% 37.5-39.5% 7.5-8.5% 4.5-6.0% 3.5-4.5% 2.0-3.5%
Alter ALCO 40.6-42.6% 37.8-39.8% 6.4- 8% 4.6-5.8% 3.5-4.5% 2-3.5%
Mega GPO 41-43% 37.5-39.5% 7.5-9% 4.5-6% 3.5-4% 2.5-3%
Skai V-PRC 41-43% 36-38% 7.5-9.5% 5-6% 3.5-4.5% 2.5-3.5%
Star Kapa Research 41.9% 38.4% 7.7% 5.3% 4.0% 2.7%
exit poll average: all 41.9% 38.2% 7.9% 5.3% 3.8% 3.0%
Mega² GPO 42.0%
153 seats
37.8%
101 seats
8.2%
22 seats
5.0%
13 seats
4.0%
11 seats
3.0%
-

1 Revised exit poll presented at 20:30 local time
² Statistical projection based on official returns, presented at 21:30 local time - claimed margin of error: 0.2%

Results

The following table shows the tallies with all the votes counted.

 Summary of the 16 September 2007 Hellenic Parliament election results
Parties Leader Votes % +/– Seats +/–
New Democracy (ND) Kostas Karamanlis 2,994,979 41.84 –3.52 152 –13
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) George Papandreou 2,727,279 38.10 –2.45 102 –15
Communist Party (KKE) Aleka Papariga 583,750 8.15 +2.26 22 +10
Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Alekos Alavanos 361,101 5.04 +1.78 14 +8
Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) Georgios Karatzaferis 271,809 3.80 +1.61 10 +10
Ecologist Greens Ioanna Kontouli, et al. 75,529 1.05 0
Democratic Revival Stelios Papathemelis 57,189 0.80 0
Union of Centrists Vassilis Leventis 20,822 0.29 +0.03 0
Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) (KKE (M-L)) Gr. Konstantopoulos, et al. 17,561 0.24 +0.09 0
Radical Left Front (MERA) D. Desillas, et al. 11,859 0.17 +0.02 0
United Anti-Capitalist Left (ENANTIA) [A] Konstantinos Papadakis, et al. 10,595 0.15 +0.05 0
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (M-L KKE) Antonis Papadopoulos, et al. 8,088 0.11 +0.05 0
Liberal Alliance Fotis Perlikos 7,516 0.11 0
Liberal Party Manolis Kaligiannis 3,092 0.04 ±0 0
Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece (OAKKE) Ilias Zafiropoulos, et al. 2,494 0.03 ±0 0
Fighting Socialist Party (ASKE)[B] Nikos Kargopoulos 2,099 0.03 –0.01 0
Greek Ecologists[C] Dimosthenis Vergis 1,740 0.02 0
Light – Truth – Justice (Φως – Αλήθεια – Δικαιοσύνη)[C] Konstantinos Melissourgos 970 0.01 0
Independents 574 0.00 ±0 0
Democratic Universal Hellas (Δημοκρατική Παγκόσμιος Ελλάς)[C] Stergios Krikelis 10 0.00 0
Regional Urban Development (Περιφερειακή Αστική Ανάπτυξη)[C] Nikolaos Kolitis 5 0.00 0
New Salvation Party Christian Democracy (Νέο Κόμμα Σωτηρίας Χριστιανική Δημοκρατία)[C] Alkiviadis Stoilis 1 0.00 0
Valid votes 7,160,265 100.00 300
Invalid votes 148,421 2.02
Blank votes 47,608 0.65
Total votes 7,356,294
Electorate 9,921,893
Turnout 74.14%
Popular vote
ND
 
41.84%
PASOK
 
38.10%
KKE
 
8.15%
SYRIZA
 
5.04%
LAOS
 
3.80%
OP
 
1.05%
Others
 
2.02%
Parliament seats
ND
 
50.67%
PASOK
 
34.00%
KKE
 
7.33%
SYRIZA
 
4.67%
LAOS
 
3.33%


At 1 am, September 17, 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.[9]

Results by region

Region ND
(%)
PASOK
(%)
KKE
(%)
SYRIZA
(%)
LAOS
(%)
Achaea 36.86 45.97 7.16 4.91 2.47
Aetolia-Akarnania 43.56 43.70 6.25 2.86 1.99
Argolida 48.90 37.44 4.83 3.53 3.14
Arkadia 46.65 38.67 5.36 4.03 3.15
Arta 47.34 38.71 6.69 3.94 1.60
Athens A 40.16 29.96 10.52 9.27 5.39
Athens B 35.27 34.05 12.11 8.94 5.04
Attica 39.25 36.27 9.24 5.80 5.82
Boeotia 40.98 40.45 7.92 4.40 3.54
Cephalonia 39.29 37.15 13.15 3.89 3.12
Chalkidiki 46.37 38.11 5.43 3.81 3.42
Chania 38.47 44.71 6.25 4.97 2.56
Chios 43.82 41.72 5.90 4.49 1.70
Corfu 40.06 36.44 14.89 4.04 2.08
Corinthia 43.55 41.51 4.37 4.18 3.58
Dodecanese 41.68 46.73 4.20 3.04 2.84
Drama 48.74 37.26 4.41 3.18 4.03
Elis 42.05 46.54 4.70 3.02 1.99
Euboea 40.61 42.02 7.22 4.28 3.35
Evros 48.05 39.76 4.33 2.27 3.39
Evrytania 44.61 45.64 3.35 2.40 2.22
Florina 48.17 39.26 5.28 2.89 2.55
Grevena 45.48 39.72 7.55 2.48 2.63
Imathia 42.83 39.04 7.58 3.15 4.64
Ioannina 43.38 38.78 7.99 4.69 2.42
Heraklion 33.54 54.63 4.40 4.35 1.33
Karditsa 48.02 37.81 7.41 2.86 2.14
Kastoria 54.32 32.44 4.09 3.75 3.32
Kavala 45.26 39.43 6.26 3.47 3.27
Kilkis 46.87 36.99 7.27 2.37 4.33
Kozani 46.66 39.78 5.64 3.00 2.12
Laconia 55.51 31.63 4.85 3.05 3.17
Larissa 43.46 36.82 10.06 3.85 3.53
Lasithi 36.70 52.71 3.49 4.19 1.09
Lefkada 42.52 37.59 10.74 5.17 1.64
Lemnos 39.42 37.68 13.99 3.97 2.48
Magnesia 43.32 36.39 9.36 4.31 3.63
Messenia 52.29 32.16 6.18 4.63 2.82
Naxos 45.50 37.87 5.58 5.31 2.77
Pella 47.35 39.31 4.59 2.32 4.26
Phocis 47.99 34.68 7.03 3.77 3.70
Phthiotis 49.58 36.67 5.22 3.22 3.40
Pieria 48.59 37.66 5.35 2.76 3.63
Piraeus A 42.34 32.57 8.95 6.76 5.24
Piraeus B 31.40 37.93 14.55 6.41 5.52
Preveza 45.98 38.88 7.66 3.83 1.78
Rethymno 46.50 43.84 3.39 3.59 1.12
Rhodope 45.75 45.90 2.86 1.94 1.57
Samos 37.99 32.54 18.13 5.21 2.62
Serres 52.82 33.10 5.01 2.93 3.96
Thesprotia 45.86 42.49 4.39 3.11 2.12
Thessaloniki A 37.38 34.63 10.31 6.12 6.22
Thessaloniki B 44.82 33.77 8.14 4.14 5.35
Trikala 45.68 39.27 8.49 2.75 2.03
Xanthi 39.97 48.90 3.53 2.51 2.76
Zakynthos 38.10 42.34 10.51 4.39 2.18

See also

References

Further reading

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