Back to the future: New Democracy’s dominance and the left’s fragmentation in the June 2023 Greek parliamentary election

Abstract

Despite adopting a significantly less proportional electoral system in June 2023, more parties entered the Greek parliament compared to May 2023, which constituted a ‘first round’ of the 2023 Greek national elections. From a comparative politics perspective, this seems counterintuitive. Moreover, the centre-right New Democracy consolidated executive and electoral power vis-à-vis left SYRIZA, which is in steady decline. To provide a systematic analysis of the June 2023 election, we use Bartolini’s (2002) dimensions of politico-electoral competition: availability of voters, contestability, decidability, and incumbent vulnerability. Our analysis highlights the role of the legacy of the economic crisis and electoral reforms, which affected the translation of votes into seats and the eligibility of voters and parties, in producing a dominant party and a fragmented opposition.