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ERT, Athens
July 19,
2003
Summary: In Greece, the
socialist PASOK party has put forward plans for electoral reform.
They have majority control in Parliament, with 158 of 300 seats. The
main opposition is the conservative New Democracy party, with 125
seats. The Communist KKE party have 11 seats, the socialist
Coalition of the Left and Progress has 6 seats, and the socialist
DIKKI party has no seats at present.
ERT, Athens
Simitis
Aims for Electoral Reform
July 19, 2003
Prime Minister Costas Simitis has put forward plans
for electoral reforms in Greece in the face of an opposition outcry.
The proposed changes include electoral boundaries being redrawn and
moves to separate votes for parties and individual candidates. There
are suggestions for new guidelines on pre-election political
alliances. The existing requirement for a political party to gain
three percent of the vote to enter parliament remains unchanged. The
draft of the new electoral law is expected to be submitte d to
Parliament in November, but the new laws will not hit the statute
books until after the next general election in 2004. Mr Simitis says
the reforms will make government more stable and parliament more
representative through a fairer electoral system. But the opposition
New Democracy (ND) party, currently leading opinion polls, has
refused to take part in the debate and has accused the government of
disrespecting democratic procedures. ND president Kostas Karamanlis
accused the Prime Minister of insecur ity and opportunism. The
opposition KKE party took a similar line. Government spokesman
Christos Protopappas said that Mr Karamanlis seems to have forgotten
it was he who first raised the issue of electoral reforms three
years ago. The Coalition of the Left and DIKKI insisted on the
introduction of proportional representation, but they said they
would take part in talks. The smaller left-wing parties repeated
their demand for the introduction of a proportional electoral
system. |
