European Interest

Forty-nine lists for the EU elections in Greece

Flickr/alk_is/CC BY 2.0
A pro-EU rally in front of he Greek Parliament, June 2015.

Forty-nine political parties and mouvements have submitted lists of candidates for the EU elections in Greece.

Although the country has only 21 seats in the European Parliament, multiparty participation in Greece is not a surprise. Forty-three parties run in the previous EU elections in 2014 and twenty-seven in 2009.

Several new parties will run. Some of them for the first time.

Despite the neo-Nazi Golden Down remains the stronger party in the far-right camp, there are more than 10 far-right lists (among the fans of Marine Le Pen, Matteo Salvini, and monarchists).

There is a strong representation of the Eurosceptic leftist parties as well.

6 parties are founded by ex Ministers of the conservative New Democracy.

This time there are two lists representing minority communities, the Rainbow of the Slavic speaking minority and the other of the Turkic speaking Muslim minority.

According to the polls only five parties will win seats in the European Parliament: the ruling Syriza (a GUE/NGL member), the conservative New Democracy (a member of EPP), the former Pasok of Andreas Papandreou now renamed KINAL, the communist party (KKE) and the neo-Nazi Golden Down.

The Greek electoral system has a 3% threshold for access to the European Parliament.

The elections will take place on May 26.

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