Political System in Greece

Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981 and is also a member of the European Monetary Union. In 2001, the Euro replaced the long-standing Drachma as its new currency. In Greece, parliamentary democracy has been established as the permanent form of government.

In the last elections in 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis became the new Prime Minister and replaced Alexis Tsipras. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the President of the Nea Dimokratia party. Katerina Sakellaropoulou has been the President of the Hellenic Republic since 2020 - the first woman in this function. The President is the head of State, represents the nation under international law, and acts as the supreme political arbitrator.

The most important political parties in Greece:

Nea Dimokratia (def. New Democracy)
Nea Dimokratia, a liberal-conservative party in Greece, was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis after the fall of the Greek military dictatorship. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the president of the Nea Dimokratia and has ruled since 2019.

SYRIZA (def. Coalition of the Radical Left)
Is a socialist Greek party, classified as left-wing populism. After the election victory in 2015, formed a coalition government with the right-wing populist party Anexartiti Ellines. Since 2019, the party is once again in opposition.

KKE (def. Communist Party of Greece)
KKE is the oldest political party in Greece. It is one of the most important and at the same time most radical communist parties in Europe.

DiEM25 (def. Democracy in Europe Movement 2025)
This is a left-wing pan-European movement which, according to its statements, aims at the "just shaping of the 21st Century". The party was founded in 2016 by former Hellenic Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and aims to democratize Europe.

PASOK - KINAL (The Panhellenic Socialist Movement and Movement for Change)
This is a Greek center-left party. It was founded in 2018 as a merger of PASOK, DIMAR, To Potami, and some smaller parties. The Party leader was the late Fotini "Fofi" Gennimata - a Greek politician who served as president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement from 2015 to 2021. The current residing president of KINAL is now Nikos Androulakis.

Elliniki Lysi (def. Greek solution)
This is a right-wing populist party. It was founded in 2016 by former LAOS member Kyriakos Velopoulos, who has been its chairman ever since.

In a parliamentary election in Greece, 288 of the 300 seats are elected in 56 constituencies. The number of seats varies according to the constituency or population in each constituency. There is also a 3% hurdle for parties to enter parliament. The party that gets the most votes receives 50 seats as a bonus. All Greek citizens over the age of 17 are entitled to vote.

In Greece, there is a compulsory voting system. But there are no consequences for non-voters.