IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Greece

Country Profile:

Overview

Elections

News

Links

Region

Upcoming Elections

Presidential
February 2015

Greece
Hellenic Republic
Region: Europe

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Karolos PAPOULIAS
Head of Government: Prime Minister Antonis SAMARAS
Assembly: Greece has a unicameral Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon) with 300 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by parliament to serve a 5-year term.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
In the Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon), 250 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 50 members are allocated for the party that wins a plurality of votes. to serve 4-year terms.***

*** There is a national threshold of 3 percent. The party or apparentement winning a plurality of votes automatically is awarded 50 seats (up from 40 during the last election), and the remaining seats are allocated proportionally among all parties clearing the threshold. The 250 regular seats are divided among 56 constituencies: 48 multi-member and 8 single-member. If an election was held during the previous 18 months, the list is closed instead of open.