2014 European Parliament election in Greece

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All 21 Greek seats in theEuropean Parliament
Turnout	59.33%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alexis Tsipras Antonis Samaras Nikolaos Michaloliakos Party Syriza ND ΧΑ Alliance GUE/NGL EPP NI Last election 4.70%, 1 seat 32.30%, 8 seats 0.46%, 0 seats Seats won 6 5 3 Seat change 5 3 3 Popular vote 1,518,376 1,298,948 536,913 Percentage 26.56% 22.72% 9.39% Swing 21.86pp 9.58pp 8.93pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Evangelos Venizelos Stavros Theodorakis Dimitris Koutsoumpas Party ELIA To Potami KKE Alliance S&D S&D NI Last election 36.65%, 8 seats – 8.35%, 2 seats Seats won 2 2 2 Seat change 6 New Popular vote 458,514 377,662 349,342 Percentage 8.02% 6.61% 6.11% Swing 28.63pp New 2.24pp   Seventh party   Leader Panos Kammenos Party ANEL Alliance ECR Last election – Seats won 1 Seat change New Popular vote 197,837 Percentage 3.46% Swing New

European Parliament elections were held inGreece on 25 May 2014 to elect the 21 Greek members of theEuropean Parliament.^[1] The number of seats allocated to Greece declined from 22 to 21, as a result of the2013 reapportionment of seats in the European Parliament.

The election marked a significant milestone as the left-wingSYRIZA party emerged as the largest party for the first time, securing 26.6% of the votes. This achievement signaled a major shift in Greek politics.

While the conservativeNew Democracy party remained the second-largest party with 22.7% of the votes, it experienced substantial losses compared to the previous election. The far-rightGolden Dawn party made significant gains, becoming the third-largest party and achieving its strongest electoral performance to date, receiving 9.4% of the votes.

On the other hand, the center-leftPASOK party suffered a severe decline, witnessing a dramatic decrease in support from 37% in 2009 to only 8% of the votes in this election. This outcome demonstrated a substantial collapse of PASOK's political influence.

In addition to the established parties, two new political entities,To Potami andANEL, managed to secure enough votes to gain representation in the European Parliament. Meanwhile, theCommunist Party maintained its stable position.

According toJim Yardley ofThe New York Times, "the vote has become ade facto referendum on the governing coalition and a test of whether ordinary citizens believe the government's assertion that the country is finally on the upswing."^[2]

46 parties and coalitions are participating in the elections:^[3]

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. However, if such date is unknown, the date of publication will be given instead.

Notes

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Syriza	1,518,376	26.56	6	+5
	New Democracy	1,298,948	22.72	5	−3
	Popular Association - Golden Dawn	536,913	9.39	3	+3
	Olive Tree	458,514	8.02	2	−6
	The River	377,662	6.61	2	New
	Communist Party of Greece	349,342	6.11	2	0
	Independent Greeks	197,837	3.46	1	New
	Popular Orthodox Rally	154,029	2.69	0	−2
	Greek European Citizens	82,381	1.44	0	New
	Democratic Left	68,630	1.20	0	New
	Union for the Homeland and the People	59,482	1.04	0	New
	Party of Greek Hunters	56,851	0.99	0	0
	Bridges (Drassi−Recreate Greece)	51,738	0.91	0	New
	Ecologist Greens–Pirate Party of Greece	51,703	0.90	0	−1
	United Popular Front	49,334	0.86	0	New
	Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace	42,792	0.75	0	New
	Panathinaikos Movement	42,252	0.74	0	New
	Antarsya	41,299	0.72	0	0
	Union of Centrists	36,804	0.64	0	0
	Society – Political Party of the Successors of Kapodistrias	34,487	0.60	0	New
	Agricultural Party of Greece	32,356	0.57	0	New
	Greens	28,365	0.50	0	New
	Society of Values	20,856	0.36	0	New
	National Unity Association	17,146	0.30	0	New
	Plan B	11,307	0.20	0	New
	Socialist Party	11,106	0.19	0	New
	Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Greece	10,771	0.19	0	0
	Kollatos	8,978	0.16	0	New
	Popular Unions of Bipartisan Social Groups	8,899	0.16	0	0
	National Front	8,783	0.15	0	New
	Drachmi	8,724	0.15	0	New
	Hope for the State	6,801	0.12	0	New
	Rainbow	5,737	0.10	0	0
	Greek Ecologists	5,608	0.10	0	0
	Patriotic Union − Greek Popular Rally	4,614	0.08	0	New
	Workers Revolutionary Party	4,496	0.08	0	0
	Fighting Socialist Party of Greece	3,627	0.06	0	0
	Organisation of Internationalist Communists of Greece	3,045	0.05	0	New
	Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece	2,872	0.05	0	New
	National Resistance Movement	2,383	0.04	0	New
	Panagrarian Labour Movement of Greece	63	0.00	0	New
	National Dawn	62	0.00	0	New
	Liberty	12	0.00	0	New
Total		5,715,985	100.00	21	−1
Valid votes		5,715,985	96.20
Invalid/blank votes		225,651	3.80
Total votes		5,941,636	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		10,013,834	59.33
Source:Ikaria

In the press, the conservativeKathimerini newspaper said that citizens had expressed displeasure, but didn't give SYRIZA "true momentum."^[4] The SYRIZA-linked dailyI Avgi said SYRIZA's win was "historic" and a "milestone in the political history of Greece."^[4]Eleftherotypia criticised the government for trying to downplay SYRIZA's win, and said the result showed voters want "radical policy change."^[4] Left-leaningEfimerida ton Syntakton said the big loser was the government, and criticised Prime MinisterAntonis Samaras for being more critical ofSYRIZA thanGolden Dawn.^[4]Ethnos said all parties were equally punished by the vote.^[4]

Following his party's victory, SYRIZA leaderAlexis Tsipras called for snap elections to be called "as soon as possible."^[5][6][7] Tsipras noted that if the results were replicated in a national election, the governing ND-PASOK coalition would have only 94 seats, in contrast to the 152 seats they had at the time of the election.^[5][6] SYRIZA warned that the result meant there was a disharmony between public opinion and the composition of parliament, and that the government lacked a mandate to proceed with any new austerity measures,^[6] particularly warning against water privatisation.^[5][6] On 26 May, the day after the election, Tsipras met with PresidentKarolos Papoulias about the potential to hold new elections.^[5]

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (ND) insisted the vote was not a cause for snap elections.^[6] In a televised address in the immediate aftermath of the vote, Samaras said that "those who tried to turn the EU election into a plebiscite failed."^[6] High-ranking ND officials held a meeting on 3 June to discuss how to woo back voters who had left the party, but were unable to come to a conclusion.^[8]

Evangelos Venizelos, leader of junior coalition partyPASOK, came under fire from several MPs of his own party, who called on him to quit as leader following PASOK's mediocre result.^{[9][10][11][12]} In an editorial inTa Nea, which criticised Venizelos' strategy, PASOK MPCostas Skandalidis said "nobody has the legitimacy to decide the fate of a historic party on his own."^[9] Skandalidis also urged Venizelos to develop closer contacts with SYRIZA.^[9] Venizelos hit back at his intra-party critics, calling them "fifth columnists" who were trying to "consciously undermine" him.^[11][12]

DIMAR leaderFotis Kouvelis announced on 28 May that he would offer his resignation as leader of his party, due to its poor result.^[13][14] However, DIMAR's central committee rejected his resignation.^[15] DIMAR and SYRIZA eyed closer co-operation following the vote,^[15][16] although a significant minority of DIMAR MPs support co-operating with PASOK instead.^[13][14][16] DIMAR decided to choose its political direction at a party conference, scheduled to be held 12–14 September 2014.^[16] Until then it was agreed Kouvelis would stay on as leader.^[16]

Panos Kammenos, leader ofANEL, also called a party conference due to his party's poor result, although he did not offer his resignation.^[17] Instead, Kammenos planned to discuss the possibility of co-operating with other right-wing anti-austerity groups, and offered invitations to several such parties to participate in ANEL's congress.^[17] Two ANEL MPs left the party after the election, with one saying the party had "lost its direction."^[18]

While Prime Minister Samaras vowed to "stay the course," he acknowledged the government must "fix injustices" and planned a "radical" cabinet reshuffle in response to the vote.^{[19][20][21][22]} Key chances included having Finance MinisterYannis Stournaras replaced with former prime-ministerial adviserGikas Hardouvelis, and ND MPArgyris Dinopoulos replacingYiannis Michelakis as Interior Minister.^[21][22] Ex-LAOS MPAdonis Georgiadis was replaced as Health Minister byMakis Voridis, a fellow ex-LAOS member.^[21][22] Changes were also made to the Education Minister, Public Order Minister, Development Minister, Agricultural Development Minister, and government spokesperson.^[21][22]

Makis Vordis' appointment to the cabinet was a subject of controversy, with theAnti-Defamation League objecting to his appointment.^[23] The ADL claimed his appointment was at odds with the Prime Minister's stance on Golden Dawn.^[23] In the 1980s Vordis led theNational Political Union, a youth group founded by ex-dictatorGeorgios Papadopoulos from inside prison, before getting kicked out for engaging in extremist acts.^[23] In the 1990s Vordis founded theHellenic Front, a party with close links to theNational Front in France.^[23]

Sofia Voultepsi, the newly appointed government spokesperson, was also considered a controversial choice.^[24] Prior to her appointment, she said the press was owned by "arms dealers, Rothschild, and bankers", and that undocumented migrants are "invaders" and "weapons in the hands of the Turks."^[24]

The new cabinet was sworn in on 10 June.^[21][22]

• Official results at the Ministry of Internal Affairs

• 2014 European Parliament election
• European Parliament elections in Greece
• 2014 in Greek politics
• 2014 elections in Greece
• May 2014 in Greece

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