New Democracy Νέα Δημοκρατία Néa Dimokratía | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | ND ΝΔ |
| President | Kyriakos Mitsotakis |
| Vice Presidents | Adonis Georgiadis[1] Kostis Hatzidakis[1] |
| Secretary | Kostas Skrekas |
| Spokesperson | Alexandra Sdoukou[2] |
| Founder | Konstantinos Karamanlis |
| Founded | 4 October 1974; 51 years ago (1974-10-04) |
| Preceded by | National Radical Union (partially; unofficial) |
| Student wing | Democratic Renewal Vanguard - New Democratic Student Movement (abbr. ΔΑΠ - ΝΔΦΚ) (universities' organization) Student Independent Movement (abbr. MAKI) (school organization,quasi-dormant) |
| Youth wing | Youth Organisation of New Democracy |
| Foundation | Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy |
| Trade union wing | Democratic Independent Movement of Workers (ΔΑΚΕ) |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre-right[12] toright-wing[21] |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party Group |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International International Democracy Union |
| Colours | Blue |
| Slogan | Σταθερά, Τολμηρά, Μπροστά ('Steadily, Boldly, Forward') |
| Anthem | "Νέα Δημοκρατία"[22] ('New Democracy') |
| Parliament | 156 / 300 |
| European Parliament | 7 / 21 |
| Regional governors | 8 / 13 |
| Regional councillors | 226 / 611 |
| Mayors | 25 / 332 |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| nd.gr | |
New Democracy (Greek:Νέα Δημοκρατία,romanized: Néa Dimokratía[ˈneaðimokraˈti.a],ND/ΝΔ) is aliberal-conservative[23][24][25]political party in Greece. In contemporaryGreek politics, New Democracy has been the maincentre-right to right wing political party and one of the twomajor parties along with its historic rival, thePanhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). New Democracy and PASOK were created in the wake of thetoppling of the military junta in 1974, ruling Greece in succession for the next four decades. Following the electoral decline of PASOK, New Democracy remained one of the two major parties inGreece, the other being theCoalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). The party was founded in 1974 byKonstantinos Karamanlis and in the same year it formed the first cabinet of theThird Hellenic Republic. New Democracy is a member of theEuropean People's Party, the largestEuropean political party since 1999, theCentrist Democrat International,[26] and theInternational Democracy Union.[27]
The support of New Democracy comes from a wide electorate base ranging from centrists to conservatives and from nationalists to post-modernists. From a geographical perspective, its main nonvolatile support base is in the southernPeloponnese,EasternAttica, NorthernAthens andChios. Its support is generally weaker inEpirus andWestern Greece such asArta,Achaia,Ioannina, the city ofThessaloniki andCrete. Traditionally, New Democracy received the greatest percentages inLaconia,Messenia,Kastoria andSerres. Having spent four and a half years in opposition to SYRIZA's government, New Democracy regained its majority in theHellenic Parliament and returned to government underKyriakos Mitsotakis after the2019 Greek legislative election. The party secured another absolute majority in Parliament in theJune 2023 Greek legislative election.
The party has garnered acclaim for its strides in economic development since 2019, notably emphasizing digitization[28] and post-crisis recovery economics, after delivering economic growth.[29] New Democracy has received accolades for its commitment to liberal reforms and a robust emphasis on pro-Europeanism,[30] successfully securing funds from the European Union to fuel domestic development initiatives.[31] Furthermore, commendation has been extended to the party for effectively reducing both overallunemployment andyouth unemployment[32][33] in the aftermath of theCOVID-19 pandemic.
New Democracy has also faced criticism for its role in thefiscal crisis that engulfed Greece in the late 2000s to the 2010s, as well as its financial management during the 2000s.[34] Numerous academic scholars have highlighted the party's penchant for lackingtransparency concerning financial data and resource utilization,[35][36][37][38] which has raised concerns about their accountability as a political entity within the country.[39][40] Moreover, New Democracy has come under fire for its substantialdebt to Greek banks, amounting to 435 million euros as of 2023.[41][42][43]
New Democracy was founded on 4 October 1974 byKonstantinos Karamanlis, in the beginning of themetapolitefsi era following the fall of theGreek junta.[44] Karamanlis, who had already served asPrime Minister of Greece from 1955 to 1963, was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of theThird Hellenic Republic in anational unity government on 24 July 1974, until the first free elections of the new era.[45][46] He intended New Democracy to be a more modern and progressive political party than theright-wing parties that ruledGreece before the1967 Greek coup d'état, including his ownNational Radical Union (ERE). The party's ideology was defined as "radical liberalism", a term defined as "the prevalence offree market rules with the decisive intervention of the state in favour ofsocial justice." The party was formed out of aNational Radical Union core and dissident members of the pre-JuntaCentre Union. It included members of both former Monarchist and Venizelist backgrounds.
In the1974 legislative election, New Democracy obtained a massive parliamentary majority of 220 seats with a record 54.37% of the vote, a result attributed to the personal appeal of Karamanlis to the electorate. Karamanlis was elected as prime minister and soon decided to hold areferendum on 8 December 1974 for the issue of the form of government; with a large majority of 69.17%,monarchy was eventually abolished in favour of arepublic. The next major issue for the New Democracy cabinet was the creation of theConstitution of Greece, which entered into force in 1975 and established Greece as aparliamentary republic. On 12 June 1975, Greece applied to join theEuropean Communities, of which it was already an associate member since 1961, while it had already been readmitted to theCouncil of Europe on 28 November 1974.
In the1977 election, New Democracy won again a large parliamentary majority of 171 seats, albeit with a reduced percentage of popular vote (41.84%). Under Karamanlis, Greece redefined its relations withNATO and tried to resolve theCyprus problem following theTurkish invasion of the island. In 1979, the first conference of the party was held inChalkidiki, where its ideological principles defined under the term "radical liberalism" were unanimously approved, as well as its statute and the operating regulations of its organizations.[47] It was the first conference of anyGreek political party whose delegates were elected by the members.[47]
Karamanlis' vision concerning the accession of Greece into the European Communities, despite the resolute opposition of thePanhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and theCommunist Party of Greece (KKE),[48] led to the signing of theTreaty of Accession on 28 May 1979 inAthens; following the ratification of the act by theHellenic Parliament on 28 June 1979, Greece became the tenthmember state of the European Communities on 1 January 1981.[49] Karamanlis was criticised by opposing parties for not holding a referendum,[50] even though Greece's accession into the European Communities had been in the forefront of New Democracy's political platform, under which the party had been elected to power.[50] Meanwhile, Karamanlis relinquished the premiership in 1980 and was elected asPresident of Greece by the parliament, serving until 1985.[51]Georgios Rallis was elected as the new leader of New Democracy and succeeded Karamanlis in premiership.
Under the leadership of Georgios Rallis, New Democracy was defeated in the1981 legislative elections byAndreas Papandreou's PASOK which ran on a left-wing progressive platform, and was placed in opposition for a first time with 35.87% share of the vote and 115 seats. On the same day, on 18 October 1981, New Democracy was also defeated in thefirst Greek election to the European Parliament. In the following December, the party's parliamentary group electedEvangelos Averoff, formerMinister for National Defence, as president of New Democracy, but he resigned in 1984 due to health problems. On 1 September 1984,Konstantinos Mitsotakis succeeded him in the party's presidency and he managed to increase its percentage in the1985 elections to 40.85%, although it was defeated again and remained in opposition.
Mitsotakis led New Democracy to a clear win in theJune 1989 legislative elections registering 44.28% of the vote but, due to the modification of the electoral law by the outbound PASOK government, New Democracy obtained only 145 seats which were not enough to form a government on its own. The aftermath was the formation of acoalition government underTzannis Tzannetakis, consisted of New Democracy andCoalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos), with the latter also including at the time the Communist Party of Greece. In the subsequentelections of November 1989, New Democracy took one more comfortable win, increasing its share to 46.19% of the vote and 148 seats but, under the same electoral law, they were still short of forming a government and this led to a national unity government along with PASOK and Synaspismos, underXenophon Zolotas.
Eventually, in the1990 election Mitsotakis' New Democracy defeated once again Papandreou's PASOK with a lead of 8.28%, but this time the 46.89% of votes awarded them with 150 seats, which allowed Mitsotakis to form a majority in the parliament with the support ofDemocratic Renewal's (DIANA) solemember of parliament and one more seat given by theSupreme Special Court, after a mistake in seat calculation was detected. After three consecutive wide wins with high vote percentages, Mitsotakis became the 178th Prime Minister of Greece and the 7th Prime Minister of the 3rd Hellenic Republic though with a slim parliamentary majority of 152 seats due to the electoral law in force at the time.
In a turbulent international political environment following the1989 Fall of Communism inEurope, Mitsotakis' government focused on cutting government spending, the privatization of state enterprises, the reformation of the public administration and the restoration of the original electoral system, with the addition of anelection threshold of 3%. In foreign policy, the priorities were the restoration of confidence among Greece's economic and political partners, NATO and theUnited States. Mitsotakis also supported a new dialogue withTurkey on theCyprus dispute and a compromise over theMacedonia naming dispute; the latter triggered an irritation among the MPs of New Democracy, which ledAntonis Samaras to leave it and form a new political party in June 1993,Political Spring; one more withdrawal later from its parliamentary group resulted in New Democracy's loss of the majority in the parliament and the call of early elections.
In the1993 elections, New Democracy suffered an easy defeat with 39.30% of the vote, something that led to Mitsotakis' resignation and the election ofMiltiadis Evert in the party's leadership. In the early1996 legislative election, New Democracy was defeated again byCostas Simitis' PASOK registering 38.12%, but Evert obtained a re-election as the party's leader in the same year. However, in the spring of 1997 a new conference took place, in order to elect a new president among others.Kostas Karamanlis, nephew of the party's founder, was elected the sixth president of New Democracy.
Under Karamanlis, New Democracy experienced an evident increase in popularity, but in the2000 elections they lost by only 1.06% of the popular vote, the smallest margin in modern Greek history, registering 42.74% and obtaining 125 seats in the parliament. By 2003, New Democracy was consistently leading Simitis' PASOK in opinion polls; in January 2004 Simitis resigned and announced elections for 7 March, whileGeorge Papandreou succeeded him in PASOK's leadership.
Despite speculation that Papandreou would succeed in restoring the party's fortunes, in the2004 election Karamanlis managed to take a clear win with 45.36% of the vote and 165 seats, and New Democracy returned to power after eleven years in opposition, scoring an all-time record of 3,359,682 votes in the history ofGreek elections. The regions that consistently support New Democracy include thePeloponnese,Central Macedonia andWest Macedonia. On the other hand, the party is weak inCrete, theAegean Islands,Attica andWest Greece.
Insocial policy, theretirement age was raised from 58 to 60 for those with 35 years of insurance, while early retirement went up from 55 to 60 for those who entered the labor market after 1993.Supplementary pensions were also cut. In addition, mothers with under-aged children could retire at 55 instead of 50, whilepaid maternity leave was extended to 6 months in the private sector.[52]
Risingunemployment and the threat ofinflation undermined Karamanlis' promises to kick-start the economy and sparkedstrikes,[53][54][55][56] especially one in 2006 by rubbish collectors,[57] causing severe disruption in the economy. In early 2006, it was revealed that the cellular phone of Kostas Karamanlis, as well as those of several other members of the government and officials of the armed forces, had beenwiretapped for several months during and after the 2004 Athens Olympics.[58] The prime minister came under criticism during thewildfires of 2007.[59] With hundreds of thousands of acres burning and many deaths, the government had faced growing scrutiny for its response to the fires.
On 16 September 2007,Kostas Karamanlis won re-election with a diminished majority inParliament, and stated: "Thank you for your trust. You have spoken loud and clear and chosen the course the country will take in the next few years."George Papandreou, PASOK, accepted defeat (New Democracy party with 41.87%, and opposition party PASOK had 38.1%).[60]
_01.jpg)
On 2 September 2009 Karamanlis announced his intention to call an election, although one was not required until September 2011.[61] The parliament was dissolved on 9 September, and the2009 legislative election was held on 4 October. New Democracy's share of the parliamentary vote dropped to 33.47% (down by 8.37%) and they won only 91 of 300 seats, dropping by 61 since thelast election.[62] The rival PASOK soared to 43.92% (up 5.82%), and took 160 seats (up 58).[62] The 33.5% tally marked a historic low for the party since its founding in 1974.[63] Karamanlis conceded defeat and stated that he would resign as a leader of New Democracy, and would not stand as a candidate at the next party election.[64] Two formerMinisters for Foreign Affairs,Dora Bakoyannis andAntonis Samaras, as well asThessaloniki PrefectPanagiotis Psomiadis were announced as candidates,[65] with Samaras being the favorite to win.[66]
On 29 November 2009, Antonis Samaras was elected the new leader of New Democracy by the party base at the2009 leadership election.[67] Following early results showing Samaras in the lead, his main rival Dora Bakoyannis conceded defeat and congratulated Samaras for his election;[68] later she left New Democracy to found her own party,Democratic Alliance. Samaras himself had also left New Democracy in 1992 because of his hard stance on theMacedonia naming dispute and found his own party,Political Spring; he returned to New Democracy in 2004.[69]
New Democracy was in opposition during the first phase (2009–11) of theGreek government debt crisis which included theFirst bailout package agreed in May 2010. The party did not support the first EU/IMF rescue package of May 2010 and the three related austerity packages ofMarch 2010,May 2010 andJune 2011.[70][71][72] Further measures were agreed by prime ministerGeorge Papandreou with the EU and private banks and insurers on 27 October 2011. The aim was to complete negotiations by the end of the year and put in place a fullSecond bailout package to supplement the one agreed in May 2010.[73] Samaras initially blasted the deal.[74] In reality New Democracy had dismissed cross-party agreement even before the deal was agreed.[75]
A few days later, Papandreou announced asurprise referendum.[76] During the frantic negotiations that followed, Samaras offered to support the austerity package he had initially condemned if Papandreou resigned and an interim government be appointed to lead the country to elections early in the new year.[77]
The referendum was never held, and Papandreou resigned in early November 2011. New Democracy supported the newnational unity government headed byLucas Papademos; however the party's support for austerity appeared lukewarm at first.[78][79]
Within a few days, party officials spoke of "renegotiating" existing agreements with the EU and IMF.[80] EU partners requested that Samaras sign a letter committing him to the terms of the rescue package, in what was seen as an effort to keep the nationalist elements of his party happy. Samaras argued that his word should be enough and that the demand for a written commitment was "humiliating".[81] Both Papademos and the EU insisted on a written commitment. New Democracy repeated its call for new elections.[82] Samaras was said to be infuriating European leaders by only partly backing the international reform programme.[83] A meeting ofEurozone's Finance Ministers was postponed in February 2012, when it became apparent that not all the main political parties were willing to pledge to honour the conditions demanded in return for the rescue package; a day later Samaras reversed course and wrote to the European Commission and IMF, promising to implement the austerity measures if his party were to win ageneral election in April.[84] German finance ministerWolfgang Schäuble suggested postponing the election and setting up a small technocratic cabinet likeItaly's to run Greece for the next two years.[84]
InMay 2012 general election, New Democracy became the largest party but could not obtain a majority. Anti-austerity leftistSYRIZA, led byAlexis Tsipras, became the second largest party and refused to negotiate with New Democracy and PASOK. Voters once again took to the polls in the widely watchedJune 2012 election. New Democracy came out on top in a stronger position with 129 seats, compared to 108 in the May election. On 20 June 2012, Samaras successfully formed a coalition with PASOK and theDemocratic Left (DIMAR).[85]
New Democracy during its rule introduced a strict immigration policy, and proposed strengthening this policy as part of its political agenda.[86] Samaras also implemented a series of reforms andausterity measures with the aim of reducing government budget deficits and making the Greek economy competitive. In 2013 he passed reform bills approving the layoff of 15,000 public employees, among them high school teachers, school guards and municipal policemen. At the same time, he cut value-added tax (VAT) in restaurants to 13 percent from 23 percent.[87] He also passed a bill instituting the Single Property Tax and the auction of houses.[88] TheMinister of Administrative Reform and e-GovernanceKyriakos Mitsotakis implemented an evaluation process on the public sector to locate surplus staff members.[89]
Greece achieved a primary government budget surplus in 2013. In April 2014, Greece returned to the global bond market as it successfully sold €3 billion worth of five-year government bonds at a yield of 4.95%.[90] Greece's credit rating was upgraded by Fitch from B− to B.[91] Greece returned to growth after six years of economic decline in the second quarter of 2014,[92][93] and was the eurozone's fastest-growing economy in the third quarter.
On healthcare,Minister for HealthAdonis Georgiadis gave complete free pharmaceutical coverage to more than 2.000.000 uninsured citizens,[94][95] with the cost being set at 340 million euros.
In its electoral campaign for theJanuary 2015 legislative election, Samaras promised to continue with his plan to exit the bailout and return to growth by further privatizations, a corporate tax rate reduced to 15 percent and a recapitalization of Greece's banks.[96] The party received a total of €747,214 of state funding, the largest share of all political parties in Greece.[97] In the election, ND was defeated bySYRIZA. On 5 July 2015 Samaras stepped down from party leadership.[98]
New Democracy was once again defeated by SYRIZA in the September 2015 legislative election, but maintained its number of seats in the Hellenic Parliament. On 10 January 2016Kyriakos Mitsotakis waselected as new party leader.[99]
On 4 October 2018, the party adopted a new logo.[100]
In the2019 legislative election, New Democracy won 158 seats in the 300-seatHellenic Parliament, a majority of the seats,[101] enabling it to form agovernment on its own under Prime MinisterKyriakos Mitsotakis.
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Mitsotakis' efforts to deal with the prolonged lockdown in Greece received widespread praise from Greek and International press,[102][103][104] analysts,[105] and academics,[106] for the well-structured approach and continuous reliance on scientific expertise of the Greek pandemic task force, headed bySotiris Tsiodras.[107] In 2021, the country managed to keep the new cases of COVID-19 to low levels by enforcing back to back strict lockdowns in Athens and Thessaloniki, and enabling different emergency protocols for rural areas.[108] At the same time the government focused on tackling the pandemic before the launch of the 2021 summer tourist season in an attempt to boost the country's economy.[109][110]
During Mitsotakis's term as prime minister, he has received praise for hispro-European andtechnocratic governance,[111] his handling of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Greece,[112][113] and is credited with the modernization and digitalization of the country's public administration,[114] as well as for his overall management of the Greek economy, with Greece being named the Top Economic Performer for 2022 and 2023 byThe Economist.[115][116] This was in particular due to Greece in 2022 being able to repay ahead of schedule the 2.7 billion euros ($2.87 billion) of loans owed toEurozone countries under the first bailout it received during thedecade-long debt crisis, along with being on the verge of reaching an investment-grade rating.[117][118] Mitsotakis has also received criticism, as during his term Greece experienced heightened corruption,[119][120] and a deterioration offreedom of the press.[121][122][123] His term was marred by theNovartis corruption scandal,[124][125] the2022 wiretapping scandal,[126] and theTempi Train crash.[127] Additionally, he has received both praise and criticism for his handling of migration, including support and aid from theEuropean Union,[128] but criticism from journalists and activists forpushbacks, which his government has denied.[129]
In theMay 2023 elections, the only election to use thepurely proportional system introduced by SYRIZA in 2016, Mitsotakis led the party to achieve a plurality of the seats in parliament.[130] Soon after the results were announced, Mitsotakis calledsnap elections for the following month, with this election returning to themajority bonus system.[131]
In his second term, Mitsotakis introduced landmark bills, focusing on the establishment of private academic institutions in Greece,[132] as well as revisions to the tax and income systems.[133] Additionally, legislation was proposed for same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, a move that was widely described as progressive.[134][135] However, these initiatives faced significant opposition from right-wing and hard-right factions within the party,[136] as well as theGreek Orthodox church,[137] who openly expressed their disagreement with the proposed legislation.[138] Despite the opposition, in February 2024, Greece became the first Orthodox Christian country to recognise same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.[139]
In the2024 European Parliament election, New Democracy came first, but ceded ground in terms of both popular vote and seats secured.[140] In July 2025, the government implemented a three month suspension of asylum processing for migrants from North Africa, drawing criticism from human rights groups.[141] The government has also introduced a new law concerning those whose asylum claims have been rejected: they will have to choose between voluntarily deportation or jail sentences of two to five years, as well as fines of up to 10,000 euros ($11,600), if convicted of illegal entry and stay.[142]
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New Democracy political position has been placed ascentrist,[143]centre-right,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][144][11] with somefar-right elements.[145][146][147][148][149][150] The main ideologies of the party have been described asliberal-conservative,[23][24][25] orconservative-liberal,[151] andChristian democratic,[25][152] with apro-European stance.[153]
TheDemocratic Renewal Initiative – New Democracy Student Movement (Greek:Δημοκρατική Ανανεωτική Πρωτοπορία – Νέα Δημοκρατική Φοιτητική Κίνηση), abbreviated as "Δ.Α.Π.–Ν.Δ.Φ.Κ.", is thestudent wing of New Democracy.[154] It was founded in 1976, after themerger of the Democratic Renewal Initiative and the New Democracy Student Movement.[155][156]
Popular vote in Greek legislative elections
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| Election | Hellenic Parliament | Rank | Government | Leader | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Seats won | +/− | ||||
| 1974 | 2,669,133 | 54.37% | New | 220 / 300 |  220 | #1 | Government | Konstantinos Karamanlis |
| 1977 | 2,146,365 | 41.84% | −12.53 | 171 / 300 |  49 | #1 | Government | |
| 1981 | 2,034,496 | 35.88% | −5.96 | 115 / 300 | 56 | #2 | Opposition | Georgios Rallis |
| 1985 | 2,599,681 | 40.85% | +4.97 | 126 / 300 | 11 | #2 | Opposition | Constantine Mitsotakis |
| Jun 1989 | 2,887,488 | 44.28% | +3.43 | 145 / 300 | 19 | #1 | Coalition | |
| Nov 1989 | 3,093,479 | 46.19% | +1.91 | 148 / 300 | 3 | #1 | Snap election | |
| 1990 | 3,088,137 | 46.89% | +0.70 | 150 / 300 | 2 | #1 | Government | |
| 1993 | 2,711,737 | 39.30% | −7.59 | 111 / 300 | 39 | #2 | Opposition | |
| 1996 | 2,586,089 | 38.12% | −1.18 | 108 / 300 | 3 | #2 | Opposition | Miltiadis Evert |
| 2000 | 2,935,196 | 42.74% | +4.62 | 125 / 300 | 17 | #2 | Opposition | Kostas Karamanlis |
| 2004 | 3,360,424 | 45.36% | +2.62 | 165 / 300 | 40 | #1 | Government | |
| 2007 | 2,994,979 | 41.87% | −3.49 | 152 / 300 | 13 | #1 | Government | |
| 2009 | 2,295,967 | 33.47% | −8.40 | 91 / 300 | 61 | #2 | Opposition | |
| May 2012 | 1,192,103 | 18.85% | −14.62 | 108 / 300 | 17 | #1 | Snap election | Antonis Samaras |
| Jun 2012 | 1,825,497 | 29.66% | +10.81 | 129 / 300 | 21 | #1 | Coalition | |
| Jan 2015 | 1,718,694 | 27.81% | −1.85 | 76 / 300 | 53 | #2 | Opposition | |
| Sep 2015 | 1,526,205 | 28.09% | +0.28 | 75 / 300 | 1 | #2 | Opposition | Vangelis Meimarakis |
| 2019 | 2,251,411 | 39.85% | +11.76 | 158 / 300 | 83 | #1 | Government | Kyriakos Mitsotakis |
| May 2023 | 2,407,860 | 40.79% | +0.94 | 146 / 300 | 12 | #1 | Snap election | |
| Jun 2023 | 2,114,780 | 40.56% | −0.23 | 158 / 300 | 12 | #1 | Government | |
| European Parliament | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Votes | % | ±pp | Seats won | +/− | Rank | Leader |
| 1981 | 1,779,462 | 31.3% | New | 8 / 24 | 8 | #2 | Georgios Rallis |
| 1984 | 2,266,568 | 38.1% | +6.8 | 9 / 24 | 1 | #2 | Evangelos Averoff |
| 1989 | 2,647,215 | 40.5% | +2.4 | 10 / 24 | 1 | #1 | Constantine Mitsotakis |
| 1994 | 2,133,372 | 32.7% | −7.8 | 9 / 25 | 1 | #2 | Miltiadis Evert |
| 1999 | 2,314,371 | 36.0% | +3.3 | 9 / 25 |  0 | #1 | Kostas Karamanlis |
| 2004A | 2,633,961 | 43.0% | +4.7 | 11 / 24 | 2 | #1 | |
| 2009 | 1,655,636 | 32.3% | −10.7 | 8 / 22 | 3 | #2 | |
| 2014 | 1,298,713 | 22.7% | −9.6 | 5 / 21 | 3 | #2 | Antonis Samaras |
| 2019 | 1,872,814 | 33.1% | +10.4 | 8 / 21 | 3 | #1 | Kyriakos Mitsotakis |
| 2024 | 1,125,602 | 28.3% | -4.8 | 7 / 21 | 1 | #1 | |
A 2004 results are compared to the combined totals for ND andPOLAN totals in the 1999 election.
| # | Leader | Portrait | Term of office | Prime Minister | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantinos Karamanlis |  | 4 October 1974 | 8 May 1980 | 1974–1980 | |
| 2 | Georgios Rallis | .jpg) | 8 May 1980 | 9 December 1981 | 1980–1981 | |
| 3 | Evangelos Averoff | .jpeg) | 9 December 1981 | 1 September 1984 | — | |
| 4 | Konstantinos Mitsotakis |  | 1 September 1984 | 3 November 1993 | (Tzannetakis 1989) 1990–1993 | |
| 5 | Miltiadis Evert | 3 November 1993 | 21 March 1997 | — | ||
| 6 | Kostas Karamanlis | .jpg) | 21 March 1997 | 30 November 2009 | 2004–2009 | |
| 7 | Antonis Samaras |  | 30 November 2009 | 5 July 2015 | 2012–2015 | |
| – | Vangelis Meimarakis |  | 5 July 2015 | 24 November 2015 | — | |
| – | Ioannis Plakiotakis (interim) |  | 24 November 2015 | 10 January 2016 | — | |
| 8 | Kyriakos Mitsotakis[157] | _03_(cropped).jpg) | 10 January 2016 | Incumbent | 2019–present | |
The traditional symbol of the party has been the freedom torch, incorporated in its logo, albeit in a stylized form in the logo adopted in 2018.
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