September 2015 Greek legislative election

September 2015 Greek legislative election

← January 2015 20 September 2015 2019 →
All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 151 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	9,840,525
Turnout	56.16% (7.46pp)
First party Second party Third party   XA Leader Alexis Tsipras Vangelis Meimarakis Nikolaos Michaloliakos Party Syriza ND ΧΑ Last election 36.34%, 149 seats 27.81%, 76 seats 6.28%, 17 seats Seats won 145 75 18 Seat change 4 1 1 Popular vote 1,926,526 1,526,400 379,722 Percentage 35.46% 28.09% 6.99% Swing 0.88pp 0.28pp 0.71pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Fofi Gennimata Dimitris Koutsoumpas Stavros Theodorakis Party DISY KKE To Potami Last election 5.16%, 13 seats[a] 5.47%, 15 seats 6.05%, 17 seats Seats won 17 15 11 Seat change 4 6 Popular vote 341,732 301,684 222,349 Percentage 6.29% 5.55% 4.09% Swing 1.13pp 0.08pp 1.96pp   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Panos Kammenos Vassilis Leventis Party ANEL EK Last election 4.75%, 13 seats 1.79%, 0 seats Seats won 10 9 Seat change 3 9 Popular vote 200,532 186,644 Percentage 3.69% 3.44% Swing 1.06pp 1.65pp
Largest party by electoral district Seat distribution by electoral district
Prime Minister before election Vassiliki Thanou (interim) Independent Prime Minister after election Alexis Tsipras Syriza

Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 20 September 2015, following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' announced resignation on 20 August.^[1] At stake were all 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament. This was a snap election, the sixth since 2007, since new elections were not due until February 2019.^[2]

The elections resulted in an unexpectedly-large victory for Alexis Tsipras' Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which fell just six seats short of an absolute majority and was able to reform its coalition government with the right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL). Opposition center-right New Democracy (ND) remained stagnant at 28% and 75 seats, despite pre-election opinion polls predicting a tie with Syriza or even opening the possibility of a ND government. Far-right Golden Dawn (XA) remained the third political force in the country rising slightly to 7%, while the Democratic Alignment (comprising PASOK and DIMAR) rose to 4th place nationally, as a result of the failure of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) to increase its vote tally and the decline of To Potami. The Union of Centrists (EK) entered Parliament for the first time, while Syriza splinter group Popular Unity fell short of the required 3% threshold and did not win parliamentary representation.

Turnout was exceptionally low at 56.16%, the lowest ever recorded in a Greek legislative election since the restoration of democracy in 1974. Post-election analysis determined that voters' apathy and disaffection with politics and weariness after being continuously called to the polls (this election marked the third vote throughout 2015, after the January 2015 election and the July 2015 referendum) were the most likely causes for the low turnout.^[3]

This is the last Greek general election where New Democracy (ND) failed to win a plurarity of the vote.

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