European Parliament election, 2009 (Greece)

Greek European Parliament election, 2009

7 June 2009

22 seats to the European Parliament   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader George Papandreou Kostas Karamanlis Aleka Papariga Party PASOK ND KKE Alliance S&D EPP EUL–NGL Last election 34.03%, 8 seats 43.01%, 11 seats 9.48%, 3 seats Seats won 8 8 2 Seat change 0 3 1 Popular vote 1,878,859 1,655,636 428,283 Percentage 36.64% 32.29% 8.35% Swing 2.61% 10.72% 1.13%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party     Leader Georgios Karatzaferis Alexis Tsipras 6-member committee Party LAOS SYRIZA OP Alliance EFD EUL–NGL Greens–EFA Last election 4.12%, 1 seat 4.16%, 1 seat 0.67%, 0 seats Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 1 0 1 Popular vote 366,615 240,898 178,964 Percentage 7.14% 4.70% 3.49 Swing 3.02% 0.54% 2.88

The European Parliament election of 2009 in Greece for the election of the delegation from Greece to the European Parliament in 2009 took place on June 7, 2009. The election system used in Greece is party-list proportional representation with a 3% threshold for any party. The number of seats allocated to Greece declined from 24 to 22, as a result of new member states joining the European Union (EU). Consistent with EU-wide rules, Greek citizens resident in another of the 26-member states were permitted to vote in the place where they currently reside.

Participating parties

On 24 May, the Greek Court of Cassation, the country's supreme court, accepted the applications of 27 of the 33 parties which applied to contest the elections.

The court banned six parties from participating:

• Alternative Ecologists
• Party of Responsible Citizenship (Κόμμα του υπεύθυνου πολίτη)^[1]
• Dimokratiki^[2]
• Party of Uprising Pensioners of Greece (Κομματικός Ξεσηκωμός Συνταξιούχων Ελλάδας)
• Panagriarian Workers Movement (Παναγροτικό Εργατικό Κίνημα)
• Political Greek-European Animal-Loving Movement (Πολιτικό Ελληνοευρωπαϊκό Φιλοζωικό Κίνημα)
• Animal-Loving Ecologists of Greece (Οικολόγοι Ζωόφιλοι Ελλάδος)

In addition, the court ruled that the following parties could not participate as part of the Coalition of the Radical Left:

• Democratic Social Movement
• Movement of Active Citizens
• Movement for the United in Action Left
• Kokkino^[3]
• Xekinima
• Ecosocialists Greece^[4]
• Group Rosa (Ομάδα ΡΟΖΑ)

A judicial dispute ensued, when Drasi filed a petition before the Council of State to annul the ministerial decision, through which the time for political advertising spots on the radio and television would be allocated, since it disproportionately favored established parties. A preliminary ruling sent the dispute to the Council of State's plenary session, which will hear the petition for annulment on September 25, 2009.

Opinion polls

Results

 Summary of the 7 June 2009 European Parliament election results

Party		Leader(s)	Party group	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Panhellenic Socialist Movement	George Papandreou	PES	1,878,859	36.64	+2.61	8 / 22	0
	New Democracy	Kostas Karamanlis	EPP-ED	1,655,636	32.29	-10.72	8 / 22	3
	Communist Party	Aleka Papariga	EUL–NGL	428,283	8.35	-1.13	2 / 22	1
	Popular Orthodox Rally	Georgios Karatzaferis	IND/DEM	366,615	7.14	+3.02	2 / 22	1
	Coalition of the Radical Left[A]	Alekos Alavanos	EUL–NGL	240,898	4.70	+0.54	1 / 22	0
	Ecologist Greens	Six-member committee	Greens–EFA	178,964	3.49	+2.88	1 / 22	1
	Panhellenic Macedonian Front	Stelios Papathemelis		65,177	1.27	—	0 / 22	0
	Party of Greek Hunters	Giorgos Tsagkanelias		64,782	1.27	—	0 / 22	0
	Action	Stefanos Manos et al.		38,895	0.76	—	0 / 22	0
	Ecologists Greece	K. Papanikolas		33,236	0.65	—	0 / 22	0
	Greek Ecologists	Dimosthenis Vergis		31,188	0.61	+0.07	0 / 22	0
	Popular Union-Chrysi Avyi	Nikolaos Michaloliakos		23,566	0.46	—	0 / 22	0
	Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow	13-member committee		21,951	0.43	—	0 / 22	0
	Union of Centrists	Vassilis Leventis		19,660	0.38	–0.18	0 / 22	0
	Marxist–Leninist Communist Party	A. Papadopoulous et al.		13,142	0.26	–0.09	0 / 22	0
	Popular Unions of Bipartisan Social Groups	Kostas Dalios		10,572	0.21	—	0 / 22	0
	Society – Political Party of the Successors of Kapodistrias	Emmanouil Voloudakis		7,964	0.16	—	0 / 22	0
	Hellenic Direct Democracy Movement	Giorgos Kokkas		7,916	0.15	—	0 / 22	0
	Liberal Party–Libertas.eu	Manolis Kaligiannis	Libertas.eu	6,485	0.13	—	0 / 22	0
	Youth Party	Kyriakos Topsoglou		6,224	0.12	—	0 / 22	0
	Workers Revolutionary Party	Sabetai Matsas		6,048	0.12	—	0 / 22	0
	Fighting Socialist Party	Nikos Kargopoulos et al.		5,624	0.11	–0.09	0 / 22	0
	European Free Alliance–Rainbow	S. Anastasiadis	EFA	4,530	0.09	–0.01	0 / 22	0
	Liberal Alliance	Fotis Perlikos	ALDE	4,348	0.08	—	0 / 22	0
	Greek Unity	Vasileios Protopapas		3,105	0.06	—	0 / 22	0
	Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece	Ilias Zafiropoulos et al.		2,807	0.05	–0.03	0 / 22	0
	Patriotic Humanitarian Movement	Georgios Dontas		762	0.01	—	0 / 22	0
Valid votes				5,127,237	97.46
Invalid votes				72,791	1.38
Blank votes				61,008	1.16
Totals				5,261,036	100.00	—	22	—
Electorate and voter turnout				9,995,992	52.63
Source: Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration, and Decentralization, with all precincts reporting as of 05:17, 12 December 2009 (UTC).
Notes A The results of the Coalition of the Radical Left are compared with the 2004 results of Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology.

Further reading

References