As the first country in the region, Greece joined the European Union in 1981 and became a member of the Schengen Zone in 1992 and the Eurozone in 2001. It has been a NATO member since 1952. Despite most of the Greek population being of Orthodox religion and some harboring sympathies for Russia, Greece's strategic orientation remains towards the EU and NATO. The United States maintains friendly relations with Greece, with a naval base on the island of Crete and an agreement signed in 2021 allowing the US military to use three more military bases in Greece.
The current Greek government is led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is also the President of the New Democracy party. The party, established in 1974 after the fall of the military junta in Greece, is the largest political party in the country and a member of the European People's Party. Mitsotakis comes from a family-political dynasty, as his father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, was a former Greek Prime Minister, and his sister, Dora Bakoyannis, served as the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mitsotakis enjoyed support from the European People's Party and cultivated cooperation with the United States.
The second-largest party in Greece is SYRIZA, the Coalition of the Radical Left - Progressive Alliance. It was established in 2004 and is headed by Aléxis Tsípras, who has been the party's president since 2008. Tsípras, a civil engineer by profession, was previously a member of the Communist Party of Greece. Another significant party is PASOK, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, which was the ruling party in Greece for several years. Nikos Androulakis, a former member of the European Parliament, currently lead it.
Smaller parties in Greece include the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), established in 1918, the extreme right-wing party Ellinikí Lýsi (Greek Solution), established in 2016, and the left-oriented party MeRa25, established in 2018. The Golden Dawn party, characterized as a neo-Nazi party, was dissolved, and its founder, Ilias Kasidiaris, established the Elines party, which has been banned from participating in the upcoming elections.
The Greek Parliament has 300 representatives, and a party needs the support of 151 representatives to form a government. The Greek Election Law uses a "reinforced proportional representation" system, introduced in 2004, which grants additional mandates to the party that wins the largest number of seats. This system aims to facilitate the establishment of a government without coalition partners. However, the upcoming May 21, 2023, elections will be held under a different election model, but subsequent elections will likely return to the traditional model with some modifications.
The ratings of the major parties in Greece are as follows: New Democracy at around 33%, SYRIZA at around 27%, PASOK at around 10%, and KKE at around 7%. Smaller parties such as MeRa25 and Ellinikí Lýsi have ratings slightly above the 3% election threshold. Kyriakos Mitsotakis has the highest personal rating as the candidate for the next Prime Minister, followed by Aléxis Tsípras.
After the elections, it is expected that Mitsotakis will be given the mandate to form a government, but New Democracy is unlikely to establish a government on its own. Mitsotakis may return the mandate and campaign for new elections, hoping to increase the party's rating to establish a government with the increased bonus of additional representatives.
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