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Do not fill this in! === Political parties === {{Main|List of political parties in Greece}} Since the restoration of democracy, the Greek party system was dominated by the liberal-conservative [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] (ND) and the social-democratic [[PASOK|Panhellenic Socialist Movement]] (PASOK).{{Refn | group = lower-alpha | For a diachronic analysis of the Greek party system,<ref>{{Harvnb | Pappas | 2003 | pp = 90–114}}</ref> who distinguishes three distinct types of party system which developed in consecutive order, namely, a predominant-party system (from 1952 to 1963), a system of polarised pluralism (between 1963 and 1981), and a two-party system (since 1981).}} Other parties represented in the [[Hellenic Parliament]] include the [[Syriza|Coalition of the Radical Left]] (SYRIZA), the [[Communist Party of Greece]] (KKE), [[Greek Solution]] and [[MeRA25]]. PASOK and New Democracy largely alternated in power until the outbreak of the [[Greek government-debt crisis|government-debt crisis]] in 2009. From that time, the two major parties, New Democracy and PASOK, experienced a sharp decline in popularity.<ref name="Political Climate and Governance December 2011">{{cite news | place = GR | url = http://www.vprc.gr/uplds/File/teleytaia%20nea/Epikaira/Political%20Climate%20and%20Governance_December2011.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120425150133/http://www.vprc.gr/uplds/File/teleytaia%20nea/Epikaira/Political%20Climate%20and%20Governance_December2011.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date = 25 April 2012 | title = Πολιτική Συγκυρία & Διακυβέρνηση |trans-title=Political climate & governance | date= 22 December 2011 | publisher = VPRC |access-date=22 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="Political Climate and Governance January 2012">{{cite news | url = http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/Political_Conjuncture_and_Governance_Jan2012.pdf | title = Πολιτική Συγκυρία & Διακυβέρνηση | trans-title = Political conjuncture & governance | place = GR | date = 26 January 2012 | work = VPRC | access-date = 26 January 2012 | archive-date = 23 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150923235341/http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/Political_Conjuncture_and_Governance_Jan2012.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="Panhellenic Research for ET3">{{cite news | url = http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/ToThePoint-Ert3_30-1-12.pdf | title = Πανελλαδικη Ερευνα για την ET3 | date = 29 January 2012 | work = To The Point | access-date = 29 January 2012 | place = GR | archive-date = 24 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924010522/http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/ToThePoint-Ert3_30-1-12.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="Research from Pulse RC for Pontiki">{{cite news | via = Ek logika | place = GR | url = http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/PulseRC-ToPontiki_2-2-2012.pdf | title = Ερευνα της Pulse RC για το Ποντικι | date = 2 February 2012 | publisher = Pulse RC | access-date = 2 February 2012 | archive-date = 23 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150923235437/http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/PulseRC-ToPontiki_2-2-2012.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="Varometro Feb 2011">{{cite news |url=http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/varometro_2_12.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226224630/http://www.eklogika.gr/uploads/files/Dimoskopiseis/varometro_2_12.pdf |archive-date=26 February 2012 |url-status=live |title = Πολιτικό Βαρόμετρο 99 |trans-title=Political barometer |date=7 February 2012 |work= Public Issue | publisher = Ek logika |access-date=7 February 2011}}</ref> In November 2011, the two major parties joined the smaller [[Popular Orthodox Rally]] in a [[grand coalition]], pledging their parliamentary support for a [[government of national unity]] headed by former [[European Central Bank]] vice-president [[Lucas Papademos]].<ref>{{cite news |title= Lucas Papademos named as new Greek prime minister |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15671354 |work=BBC News |date=10 November 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011}}</ref> [[Panos Kammenos]] voted against this government and he split off from ND forming the [[Right-wing populism|right-wing populist]] [[Independent Greeks]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Ousted New Democracy MP starts own party |newspaper=Ekathimerini |date=24 February 2012 |url=http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_24/02/2012_429676}}</ref> The coalition government led the country to the [[Greek legislative election, May 2012|parliamentary elections of May 2012]]. The power of the traditional Greek political parties, [[PASOK]] and [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]], declined from 43% to 13% and from 33% to 18%, respectively. The left-wing [[SYRIZA]] became the second major party with an increase from 4% to 16%. No party could form a sustainable government, which led to the [[Greek legislative election, June 2012|parliamentary elections of June 2012]]. The result of the second elections was the formation of a coalition government composed of [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] (29%), [[PASOK]] (12%) and [[Democratic Left (Greece)|Democratic Left]] (6%) parties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.ypes.gr/UserFiles/f0ff9297-f516-40ff-a70e-eca84e2ec9b9/egk42_19062012.pdf |title=June 2012 Greek legislative election |access-date=19 May 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628235938/http://www.ypes.gr/UserFiles/f0ff9297-f516-40ff-a70e-eca84e2ec9b9/egk42_19062012.pdf |archive-date=28 June 2015 }}</ref> SYRIZA has since overtaken PASOK as the main party of the centre-left .<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYQgDQAAQBAJ&q=syriza%2520pasok%2520centre-left&pg=PA94 |title=Radical Left Parties in Government: The Cases of SYRIZA and AKEL |last=Katsourides |first=Yiannos |date=22 September 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137588418 |page=94 |language=en}}</ref> [[Alexis Tsipras]] led SYRIZA to victory in the [[Greek legislative election, January 2015|general election]] held on 25 January 2015, falling short of an outright majority in Parliament by just two seats.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30975437|title=Greece election: Anti-austerity Syriza wins election|work=BBC News|date=26 January 2015}}</ref> The following morning, Tsipras reached an agreement with [[Independent Greeks]] party to form a coalition and was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/26/greece-election-syriza-victory-alexis-tsipras-coalition-talks-live-updates|title=Alexis Tsipras sworn in as new Greek prime minister – as it happened|first1=Graeme Wearden until 4 15 pm|last1=GMT|first2=Mark|last2=Tran (now)|newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 January 2015|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> Tsipras called snap elections in August 2015 after resigning from his post, which led to a month-long caretaker administration headed by judge [[Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou]], Greece's first female prime minister.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.economywatch.gr/vassiliki-thanou-christophilou-became-greeces-first-female-prime-minister/|title=Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou became Greece's first female Prime Minister | Economy Watch|first=D.|last=K|access-date=12 May 2021|archive-date=19 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219034341/https://www.economywatch.gr/vassiliki-thanou-christophilou-became-greeces-first-female-prime-minister/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the [[Greek legislative election, September 2015|September 2015 general election]], Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to another victory, winning 145 out of 300 seats<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34307795|title=Greece election: Alexis Tsipras hails 'victory of the people'|work=BBC News|date=21 September 2015}}</ref> and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/greek-finance-minister-tsakalotos-takes-key-role-in-tsipras-new-cabinet/a-18731437|title=Greek Finance Minister Tsakalotos takes key role in Tsipras' new cabinet | DW | 23.09.2015|website=DW.COM}}</ref> However, he was defeated in the [[2019 Greek legislative election|July 2019 general election]] by [[Kyriakos Mitsotakis]] who leads New Democracy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/07/greeks-choose-between-beach-and-ballot-in-first-post-debt-bailout-poll|title=Greek elections: landslide victory for centre-right New Democracy party|date=7 July 2019|website=the Guardian}}</ref> On 7 July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. He formed a centre-right government after the landslide victory of his New Democracy party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/7/8/kyriakos-mitsotakis-sworn-in-as-greeces-new-prime-minister|title=New era as Mitsotakis is sworn in as Greece's new PM|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page