Election rallies ended on Friday. All parties promise prosperity for Greece

Friday 23 June is the last day when political parties held rallies, campaigns and political advertisements for entry and/or a large number of seats in the Greek Parliament ahead of the elections in Sunday 25 June.

Opinion polls show former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party winning by a wide margin, more than 20%, from the main left-wing opposition party SYRIZA. Mitsotakis had previously “warned” voters that if his party failed to win an absolute majority on June 25, he would push for new elections in August.

All parties, without exception, both small and large, have made a series of promises to ensure the welfare of society, prosperity, growth, higher wages, a modern health care system and everything that the voter wants to hear. Whether these promises will be realized remains to be seen.

May elections

New Democracy won the election on May 21 with a 20-point lead over Syriza, a lead Greece has not seen since the 1970s. But she lacked the majority needed for sole rule because of the proportional voting system in place in that election.

Mitsotakis did not seek coalition allies, stating that Greece needed a strong and stable government to continue the necessary reforms. Other parties also chose not to form their own coalition, leading the country to repeat elections. Mitsotakis then stepped aside to have a provisional government run the country, as required by the constitution.

Opinion polls

Opinion pollssince then show that the New Democracy (ND) has further extended its lead ahead of Sunday’s vote.

Agency Survey RASS, released on June 19, showed that the ND won 42.9% to Syriza’s 17.9% and won a comfortable majority of 166 seats in the 300-seat parliament. The Socialist Party PASOK came in third with 12.3%.

Opinion polls show up to seven parties could enter parliament, including the left-wing Plefsi Eleftherias, founded by former SYRIZA legislator Zoe Constantopoulou, as well as more recent parties such as the religious NIKH and the far-right Spartans party, backed by Golden Dawn convicted Ilias Cassidiaris.

Electoral system of Greece 2023

The re-election will be held under a system of semi-proportional representation, or enhanced proportionality, with the bonus of a sliding scale of seats. To enter parliament for a four-year term, parties must at least 3% of the votes.

Under the new system, the winning party receives a bonus of 20 to 50 seats. It wins 20 seats immediately if it receives at least 25% of the vote, and can win up to 50 seats if it receives about 40% of the vote.

Voters will not need to put a cross next to the name of their favorite candidate, as this time the ballots will be with lists compiled by party leaders.

More than 9.9 million Greeks over the age of 17 have the right to vote.

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