At stake in this election:

• 288 seats in the Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Kostis STEPHANOPOULOS
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Kostas SIMITIS
• 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) 288 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system 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 40 seats, and the remaining seats are allocated proportionally among all parties clearing the threshold. The 288 regular seats are divided among 56 constituencies: 48 multi-member and 8 single-member. In single-member districts, elections are effectively by plurality. The 12 State Deputy seats are allocated proportionally from closed lists in a nationwide district. Voters cast ballots only for the regular seats.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: New Democracy (ND)
  • Leader: Kostas KARAMANLIS
  • Seats won in this election: 165
  • Seats won in last election: 125
• Party: Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)
  • Leader: George PAPANDREOU
  • Seats won in this election: 117
  • Seats won in last election: 158
• Party: Communist Party of Greece (KKE)
  • Leader: Aleka PAPARIGA
  • Seats won in this election: 12
  • Seats won in last election: 11
• Party: Coalition of the Left, the Movements and the Ecology****
  • Leader: Nikos KONSTANTOPOULOS
  • Seats won in this election: 6
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Party: Other Parties
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

**** This party used to be called the Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synapismos or SYN) in the April 9, 2000 elections. The current name stemmed from an alliance between the party and various environmental groups.

Last Parliamentary election:

• The last parliamentary election in Greece was held on April 9, 2000.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 10,955,141 (2004)
• Registered Voters: 9,865,440 (March 2004 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 5,557,597 (2004)

·         Is Greece a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (2 March 1982)

·         Has Greece ratified CEDAW: Yes (7 June 1983)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 39 (following the 2004 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 29 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Greece a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Greece ratified CRPD: Yes (31 May 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 1,643,271 (est.)