MP for one day: 300 deputies elected to Parliament in the May 21 general elections were sworn in on Sunday, in the presence of President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
Their term will be extremely short, however, as the present Parliament will be dissolved by presidential decree on Monday, May 29, 2023.
The MPs will elect its presidium, so that a repeat election using a system of enhanced proportional representation can be held on June 25, with the aim to form a government with absolute majority.
The May 21 elections, using a system of simple proportional representation, elected five political parties with more than 3% percent of the overall vote to Parliament.
- New Democracy: 40.79%, 146 MPs
- SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance: 20.07%, 71 MPs
- PASOK-KINAL:11.46%, 41 MPs
- Communist Party KKE: 7.23%, 26 MPs
- Elliniki Lysi: 4.45%, 16 MPs
All three top parties returned the exploratory mandates conferred on them by President Sakellaropoulou, saying they were unable to form a government. This resulted in the second “two-day parliament” in Greece’s recent history, following that arising in the elections of May 2012.
After being sworn in, the MPs signed the relevant protocol and received an information dossier that included, among others, a copy of the Constitution and Parliament’s Regulations.
Parliament Speaker election
The new Parliament will convene again on Monday at 10:30, the acting chiarman will begin by reading out the letters of the presidents of the parliamentary groups regarding the persons they propose to serve as the new parliament speaker, as it is forbidden for candidates to put themselves forward.
ND has proposed the “current” Parliament President Konstantinos Tasoulas. The Parliament President is elected in a roll-call vote and needs an absolute majority of at least 151 MPs to be elected in the first round.
If no candidate gets 151 votes, the process is repeated and the individual with the highest number of votes is elected.
After a brief recess, the House will convene again in order to elect the Vice-Presidents, deans and secretaries, again by roll-call vote. New Democracy elects the first, second and third vice-presidents of Parliament, while the opposition parties will elect the third, fourth and fifth.
Once the election of the new presidium is concluded, the new Parliament President will conclude the session, which will also mark the conclusion of this parliament’s first and only meeting.
President Sakellaropoulou will then issue a Presidential Decree that dissolves the parliament of May 21 and proclaims general elections on June 25, as well as setting a date for swearing in the next Parliament.
